To Save the Future
by imthekeptainnow
Summary: In order to save the future, they must travel back and fix the past before it goes wrong. Time Travel fic. RLSS. Re-written.
1. Chapter 1

**To Save The Future**

**Wingedhybrid**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. This story was adopted by me – the original idea came from Rainbow Stripes.**

Chapter 1

Three men, one young, two middle aged, stood weary and ragged, looking out over a silent battlefield. The green grass was stained with blood, charred with curse burns and strewn with bodies from both sides. They turned to each other and the younger of them grinned crookedly.

"We're fucked, aren't we Shade?" He asked brightly.

"That we are, Hunter. That we are." Shade replied. Hunter, otherwise known as Harry James Potter, turned and strode to the peak of the hill, looking out over the horizon at the sun that was just beginning to show itself that morning.

"Well, there is always the backup plan. I have no idea if it will work but we're the last three left, it's worth a shot." He muttered.

Shade joined him and slung an arm round his shoulder as Moony slipped one around his waist.

"When will it take us back to?" He asked as Hunter pulled a gold hourglass with purple sand inside, runes engraved on all surfaces. He held it up to his eye.

"Hmm, with this much sand, I'd say about 1st day of summer before 4th year. Joys, I get to do the bloody tournament again! 'Least I can save Cedric. By the way, bet on the cup final for me, anyone but Bagman. You up for it Sev, Moony?" He asked.

Moony, commonly called Remus Lupin, grinned as Shade, or Severus Snape to most, smirked and nodded.

"I'm ready. Remember, your body will get the muscle after about a week or so but you need to keep training, get used to being shorter. See if you can get kicked out of the house, go spend some money in Diagon Alley. Merlin knows you needed new clothes back then. Write to me when you get there. Good luck." Severus said sombrely.

Harry linked the long chain around their necks and turned his modified time-turner 5 times, sending their minds, memories and magical prowess back to August 1st, 1994.

Harry woke up in his bedroom at Number Four, Privet Drive with a pounding headache. He checked his makeshift calendar on the wall and grinned. He got it right on target. That meant that the Weasleys would invite him over in just over 2 weeks, giving him plenty of time to get everything sorted – and he had a lot to sort out. He sat up, massaging his temples in a failed attempt to rid himself of the headache, and trying to figure out what had already happened.

'_I haven't had the dream yet but I've had my birthday, I've got my Hogwarts letter, haven't done my homework and I spend the last week and a half at the Weasleys.' _He thought, getting dressed in a pair of overly large ragged jeans and a huge blue shirt – all of which, as most of his clothes, once belonged to Dudley. Hedwig cocked her head at him confusedly (_'Probably sensing a difference'_ Harry thought wiry) as he started to pack his things away in his trunk, making a clean sweep of his room and cursing the thick glasses on his face. In his own time, he had them fixed, along with having some extra features added that helped dramatically with the war. Checking over everything once more, he used his basic wandless magic skills to put a feather light charm on his trunk. Though he was technically underage, he knew that the Ministry would get an alert saying that wandless magic has been used in this area and assume that it couldn't be Harry Potter. After all, what teenager, one who hasn't even been through his 4th year of Hogwarts yet, could do wandless magic? He often used their ignorance to an advantage. He ruffled his hair - just to add that extra annoyance factor for his uncle - and strode out, smiling broadly. He reached the kitchen and his uncle looked up at him with beady eyes.

"Wipe that smirk of your face, boy, and comb your hair. Dudley needs his breakfast." He said irritably.

Harry grinned, swiping some toast off the table. "Why? It's my hair, I'll do what the hell I like with it. And if precious Duddykins needs his breakfast, he can damn well get it himself." He shot back, smirking inwardly as his aunt paled, his uncle reddened and his fat cousin grinned maliciously.

"What did you say boy?" Vernon growled.

"I said that Dudley can get his own breakfast. I'm not a bloody slave! I don't even get paid for doing everything in the house. I think the only thing you've ever bought just for me was my glasses and school books, only because you had to. I'm sick of it: either treat me properly or chuck me out!" He yelled, mentally dancing at the chance to finally say all this. When he was 14, he would never have dreamed of saying anything like this to the Dursleys but he wasn't 14. He was an 18-year-old in his younger body, with experience in war and in death – why shouldn't he stand up for himself? There was nothing the Dursleys could do to him that would be any worse than what Voldemort had put him through already.

Petunia gasped, shocked, and Vernon's face went bright purple.

"All right then, boy! I've had it! You can get out of my house and if you darken our doorstep again I'll make you wish you'd never been born! Go on! You ungrateful little brat! Get your freaky things and get out! And take that ruddy bird with you!" He ranted furiously, rising from his chair and punching him in the face, out of pure anger, surprised when Harry didn't even move.

Harry glared, adjusting his glasses that had become wonky on his face, before sprinting two at a time up the stairs, grabbing his trunk and Hedwig's cage and dragging them back to the hall.

"Goodbye, I hope I never see you again. Don't worry about telling my Headmaster, I'll write a letter to him." He said cheerily before walking out, slamming the door in the now worried faces of the Dursleys. Harry walked down a few blocks to a secluded alley and took his wand out of his pocket, thrusting upwards as the violently purple triple-decker Knightbus came with a _crack_!

The door opened and Stan smiled. "Oy, It's 'Arry Potter, look Ern. Well then 'Arry, where to?"

He hauled Harry's trunk onto the bus and closing the door, letting the driver carry on.

"The Leaky Cauldron please Stan. Can you keep it quiet that I was here, please? I don't want the wrong sort of people knowing where I am, if you get what I mean." He said, handing 10 silver sickles over to the pimpled teen.

"'Course, 'Arry. Not another word. Jus' take a seat, we'll be right there." Stan replied, beckoning Harry over to a chair.

Harry sat down, making a mental list of what he had to do. He needed to write to Severus and Remus, tell them he was okay and what had happened; write to Sirius and start off the bonding that took place over his 5th and 6th years respectively – also try and think of a way to clear his godfather's name; he wanted to write to Cedric and possibly Cho to become better friends with them, just in case he couldn't save Cedric. He then needed to buy pretty much new everything. Oh, and he had to talk to Ron and Hermione.

The bus came to an abrupt halt and Harry stood, ignoring the call of "Diagon Alley!" from Stan. He nodded a thanks as he grabbed his trunk and cage, hauling them off the bus and through the door to the dingy pub, keeping his head down. No one noticed the scruffy teen walk up to the bar and order a room for 3 weeks. Tom didn't ask questions when he gave him a tub of bruise cream and showed him to room 8, which he was eternally grateful for. He sat on the rickety bed, thinking of everything he needed to buy. He scrawled a quick note to Severus and Remus, knowing that they'd be together as they always seemed to be in his own time, telling them what was happening and where he was, before writing a letter to Dumbledore that went like this:

_Professor Dumbledore,_

_My aunt and uncle kicked me out this morning, I believe their exact words were 'You can get out of my house and if you darken our doorstep again I'll make you wish you'd never been born'. I honestly don't mind, Tom fixed up the black eye my uncle gave me. I've booked a room at the Leaky Cauldron. I promise I'll stay safe. It'll be like last summer minus the supposed mass murderer out to get me._

_Sincerely_

_Harry Potter_

He sent it off with Hedwig, before grabbing his Gringotts key and heading to the white marble bank. One of the tills was free so he walked up to it silently.

"Is there a way to have a pouch that I can get wizarding and muggle money from my vault without having to keep coming back?" He asked in an innocently curious voice, handing the goblin his key.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. One moment please." He said, placing the key in a small golden box and chanting something in another language that Harry only caught part of. In the war, he had needed to learn many languages from many different races, including Gaelic and Welsh for some odd reason. Sadly, the language that the goblins spoke was one that Harry had immense trouble learning and, even after 3 years, he remembered next to nothing. The box glowed and when he opened it, the key was resting on top of a black leather pouch with H.J.P. embroidered on in gold.

"That will be 7 Galleons." The goblin said curtly.

Harry pulled the amount out of the pouch and placed it onto the gnarled hands of the goblin.

"Thanks." He muttered, rushing out of the bank.

His first stop was at the trunk shop where he bought a dark wood trunk with 3 compartments, one for his school things, one for anything he might want to keep safe and the last was a large flat with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, library, study, potions lab, common room and fully stocked auror level training room. It cost him about 500 Galleons but was well worth it. He then went to Madame Malkin's Robes and bought new Hogwarts robes, some training robes, dragon hide under armour, a wand holster, casual robes and a couple of pairs of dress robes all in various colours. After that, he bought what felt like half of Flourish and Blott's with a bottomless, weightless schoolbag and plenty of quills, ink and parchment. The next stop was in Quality Quidditch Supplies, skirting round the temptation of full quidditch sets and just getting himself some new seeker guards. Just as he was going to pay, his eye caught a shining golden snitch in a wooden box in the corner.

He grinned and put it in his arms with the guards. The clerk raised an eyebrow at the snitch before looking up and seeing the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Good luck, Mr. Potter. From what I've heard, you could go national at the rate you're going." He said proudly, handing the shrunken package to the teen.

Harry let himself blush and grinned. "Thanks sir." He slipped into the role of naïve determined teenager and walked out of the shop. He spent the morning and part of the afternoon darting around the alley, purchasing various odd items he would need, even slipping into Knockturn Alley to get a small gold ring that slips on the end of his wand, cancelling the ministry tracking spell and allowing him to do magic over the summer. After all, wandless magic took a lot of energy and concentration.

He also got his eyes fixed, adding the ability to see magical auras, night vision and being able to see through solid things and invisibility cloaks like Moody's eye. These treatments gave his already sparkling emerald eyes a glowing quality, making them even more prominent and, in the words of girls from his time, gorgeous.

He grew his hair out a bit, making it stylishly messy and adding blue streaks so dark you wouldn't see them unless you looked hard. Harry came back to the Leaky Cauldron after finishing his shopping, purchases in the shrunken trunk in his pocket, and grabbed a quick lunch in his room before transfiguring his clothes to fit him and pressing the button on his money pouch to make it look like a muggle wallet before setting eagerly into London to buy a complete new wardrobe.

5 hours, £850 and many eager to help sales girls later, Harry collapsed on his bed, completely exhausted with a mass of new clothes in his trunk on the floor. Within minutes, he was asleep, still in his new black jeans, combat boots and black Rolling Stones band shirt. While he was there, he'd bought an ipod and a mass of CD's, planning to use a few spells he invented in the future to make it work in Hogwarts and let it upload songs without a computer. This time, he vowed to himself, to end things quickly and with as little deaths as possible.

The next morning, Harry awoke early to his snowy owl pecking him on the face. He sat up, absently noting that his body was gaining muscle rapidly and untying the two notes from Hedwig's legs. The first one was from Severus.

_Hunter,_

_It worked! I'm glad you got out, hopefully Bumblebee won't force you back. Test your boundaries and see if your hunting skills are what you used to be, I'm all good but you're only 14 right now, still technically maturing. Moony has made a point of me telling you not to exert yourself too much. Write and tell me when you're back to normal._

_Nightshade_

Harry knew that 'hunting skills' meant his animagus forms, which he added to his to do list to check. He smiled softly at Moony's warning and, though the parenting of the older man continued to irate him, he was glad that someone cared. He stuffed the note in his pocket and looked at the one from Dumbledore.

_Harry,_

_I don't like the fact that you're not with your aunt and uncle but I suppose there's nothing I can do. I'll spend some time over the year looking for somewhere for you to stay next summer if you cannot go back. I can't make any promises, however, as this year we're going to be incredibly busy. The Weasleys have already written to me about inviting you to the Quidditch World Cup – something I'm sure you are aware of - and I agreed. They will take you to the Burrow on the 21st. Be careful, stay out of danger and keep to Diagon Alley. If you have any problems, owl me or ask Tom to borrow the floo._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Dumbledore_

Harry smirked - Dumbledore had conviniently forgotten to mention the black eye. Harry had forgiven the man for the things he did in his time, but it took a long time. Everything was going well so far. He snatched a self-inking quill and some parchment off the side and began to write.

_Padfoot,_

_How are you? _

_I'm staying in the Leaky Cauldron now, my relatives kicked me out. If you ask me, it's a good thing. I've managed to buy some new clothes - I plan on burning Dudley's cast offs as soon as I can. There is something I've wanted to write to you about. _

_In my dreams, I've been having these flashback sort of things, going back to when I was a baby with mum, dad, 'unca Pa'foo' and 'unca Moo'ey'. I'm not sure if they're just dreams or if they actually happened at some point. I'm going to write to Professor Lupin about some of them that are just him and my parents, but tell me, did you seriously get me a live penguin for my first Christmas? Or was it my imagination?_

_Hope you're okay_

_Harry_

_P.S. Hypothetically, what exactly would one have to do to become an official Marauder? _

He rolled it up and sent it with Hedwig, getting the next piece.

_Moony, _

_How are you? _

_Everything's okay with me, I've written to Shade (as you already know) and Padfoot. When's the next moon? Sorry we can't be there with you but I hope you'll have company next summer or sooner. Everything is fine here, I'm in the Leaky Cauldron. I left the Dursley's and I don't plan on going back. _

_Hopefully, I can stay with you and Shade ... _

_And don't worry about me, Moony. My powers are growing every day and already I'm feeling stronger than I ever did. I'll try not to exert myself but you know me – just have to keep moving until I drop._

_See you soon!_

_Hunter_

He wrote, tying it to a post office owl he'd rented and letting him out the window. He knew that those flashbacks were real but originally they hadn't started till the end of 6th year. He and Sirius bonded a lot over those small memories and the man became incredibly close to him. He watched as the tawny owl flew out of sight before taking his old trunk and slipping down into his new trunk, landing on a small pile of shrunken bags and packages.

One by one he un-shrunk them and used a spell to put them in their rightful places, changing clothes as he unpacked. Soon, everything was put away and he went into the training room, going through various routines of magical and muggle fighting, using various weapons from knives to staffs.

He managed to hold his own but was a little rusty on the physical aspect, he assumed he would get better once the muscle grew. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, calming his racing heart and concentrating. Suddenly, there was a black panther with greenish eyes and a white lightening bolt patch of fur on his forehead. The panther was then replaced with a black hawk and a small foot long black and silver magical sea-python. The python hissed happily before turning back to a smiling Harry Potter.

"Hunter is back in business!" He murmured to himself, taking a quick shower before settling down in the library with a sandwich and a pile of books.

In his old timeline, he never had the time to just sit and read in front of the fire. All the learning he, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna did was in a practical situation, rushed and on the move. He spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between reading books and depositing memories from his timeline in his new pensive. That night, he fell asleep with a smile on his face in the large bed in his trunk bedroom.

Harry spent the next week going over everything he would need for 4th year, keeping in mind he wouldn't do exams, restocking his potions supplies, getting back in shape and just browsing the Alley. He tried to stay out of everyone's way mainly, only occasionally coming across someone he knew. He had a reply from Remus, who was glad that Harry was okay, and that he wasn't at Privet Drive. Harry was tempted to buy a second owl for long journeys but was happy to use post office owls when Hedwig was out finding Sirius. Harry had also written to Cedric and Cho, informing them that he'd heard Quidditch would be cancelled that year and if they wanted to practise seeking they were welcome to join him. Cedric hadn't replied yet but Cho said that she would be happy to, Harry was thinking that he might even be able to involve Krum when they got there. When the war got bad, the two had become good friends and often played against each other to keep their minds off things.

All too soon, in Harry's opinion Harry got a short note from Ron telling him they would pick him up that Sunday at six. This was how he found himself sitting on his trunk, Hedwig's cage on his lap, by the bar at the Leaky Cauldron. Suddenly, the fire flared green and 4 redheads stepped out, smiling cheerily. The twins spotted Harry and waved, coming over to join him.

"My, my, Harry, haven't you changed. Glad to see you got away from that pig of an uncle you have!" Fred said, clapping him on the back and leading him over to Ron and Mr. Weasley.

"So am I. How is everyone?" He asked.

"We're fine, mum's going mental with you here on your own. Hermione arrived yesterday, can't wait till the cup!" Ron said excitedly, moving for his dad to take Harry's trunk.

"Got everything, Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Yup, Hedwig's on a delivery so it's just the trunk and the cage." He said, watching the whoosh of flames as one by one they flooed back to the Burrow. As soon as he was through, only stumbling slightly, he was caught in a hug by Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry, dear, so good to see you. When Ron told us you were at the Leaky Cauldron, I wanted to invite you sooner but Dumbledore thought it best to let you have a week to yourself. You're finally putting some meat on those bones but you're still too thin. Come on, dinner's on the table." She fussed, taking him outside to a table where the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione were seated. Hermione waved and Ginny smiled.

"Hi Harry, you got your eyes fixed." She said.

"Hey Ginny, Hermione, I did, yeah. How were your summers?" He asked, slipping into a seat beside Ron and Fred.

"Great, thanks." Ginny said, reaching over for some potatoes.

"Yours?" She asked.

Harry swallowed his mouthful of chicken and grinned.

"Well, it got a lot better once I was away from the Dursleys." He joked.

Ron laughed. "Harry, these are my older brothers. You know Percy," Harry nodded hello to Percy "This is Charlie, he's the one who works with dragons in Romania." He said, motioning to Charlie who was exactly as Harry remembered first meeting him. Burned, calloused hands, tanned skin and the famous Weasley hair.

Charlie held out a hand. "Hey Harry." He said.

"And that's Bill, he's a curse breaker for Gringotts." Ron said, pointing to the eldest Weasley boy.

Bill copied Charlie's actions and grinned. "An honour to meet the great Harry Potter" he teased.

Harry grinned. "Nice to meet you guys, I've heard loads about you." He replied.

Dinner went on with small conversations, Percy droning on about Crouch and the ministry, Hermione nagging Ron to finish his homework and the quidditch world cup. Harry was relishing in, what was for him, the first Weasley dinner in years. By the end, Mrs. Weasley was clearing up when she reached for her wand and it turned into a rubber duck with a loud quack.

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY! What have I told you! I thought you got rid of those! I refuse to let you go through with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!" She ranted.

The twins backed up and Ron, Harry and the girls left to take Harry's things upstairs.

"What's Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" He asked.

Ginny grinned. "It's the twins' inventions, they've made loads of really cool prank items, they want to open a joke shop when they leave school. Mum wants them to go into the ministry. At the moment they're just doing it by order forms." She explained.

"Some of their stuff is really quite clever." Hermione added, sitting on one of the four beds in the room.

"We're sharing with Fred and George because Bill and Charlie are in their room. Percy gets his room to himself because he's got 'lots of important work to do'." Ron explained annoyedly. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Ah well. Hey, guess what, when I was in the alley, I overheard these ministry guys talking. Apparently Quidditch is being cancelled at Hogwarts this year. Wonder why." He mused to Ron and Ginny.

"Dunno, Dad, Bill, Charlie and Percy said something's going on at Hogwarts this year, maybe it's something to do with that." Ron suggested.

The door opened and Fred and George slipped in, grinning.

"Hey, Harry, you wouldn't happen to have some room in that trunk for a few experiments of ours?" George asked.

"Mum's trying to confiscate them." Fred added. Harry smiled.

"That depends." He said, the twins' faces fell slightly. "Do I get to test them on Slytherins when we get to school?" He asked.

They grinned.

"Of course, we need a tester, we think Malfoy would be perfect." They said together, handing Harry a large box with three purple W's embossed on the top. Harry put it in the corner of his trunk.

"Harry, is that a new trunk?" Hermione asked.

Harry inwardly swore. "Yeah, my uncle punched a hole in my old one." He lied smoothly.

Ron and the twins started muttering curses.

"So, any idea why we've got to have dress robes this year?" Hermione asked, trying to change the subject.

Harry feigned ignorance and shrugged. It was a lot harder than it looked not to tell them everything but he couldn't risk it. "No idea, you're not supposed to need them till seventh year. I think it's all got to do with whatever's going on at school. Guess we'll just have to wait." He said.

There was a knock on the door and Charlie's head poked in. "Bed time, you lot. You've got to be up early to get the portkey tomorrow morning. Mum's got your school lists, she'll get your stuff while we're at the cup." He said excitedly.

They nodded and the girls left to change. Ron went to brush his teeth and Harry caught the twins before they followed. "Ginny told me about the joke shop idea, says it's only on order forms at the moment." He said. They nodded.

"Yeah, we're saving up for premises to buy when we leave school." George said.

"Well, the Potters are loaded, if you ever need any funding, come to me. The world needs a good laugh with all the Voldemort stuff. I might even be able to persuade Messrs Moony and Padfoot to help with some ideas." He said. The twins gaped.

"You know Moony and Padfoot?" They breathed in awe.

Harry nodded. "Yup, top secret though, not allowed to disclose their real names. They've asked me to carry on the Marauder tradition now. You two seem like good candidates. After the cup, I'll talk to you." He said as he left the room to brush his teeth, leaving two stunned Weasleys in his wake.


	2. Chapter 2

**To Save The Future**

**Wingedhybrid**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. This story was adopted by me – the original idea came from Rainbow Stripes.**

Chapter 2

Harry was awoken at about 4am by Mrs. Weasley that morning.

"Harry, dear, get dressed and come down for breakfast. Make sure you bring some money and your wand with you." She whispered before going to shake Ron awake.

As before, the two moving lumps under blankets at the foot of his bed showed the twins were awake. Harry, used to an early morning, stretched and grabbed his clothes and toiletries, having a quick shower before dressing in dark blue jeans, black combat boots and a dark blue long sleeved shirt with a small snitch on the front.

Slipping his wand in his holster and brushing his damp hair, he picked up his rucksack and followed a groggy Ron and yawning twins down the stairs, grinning at the smell of bacon. They squeezed into chairs and piled food on their plates, too excited and tired to talk. Mrs. Weasley came down followed by the girls and Mr. Weasley. He was dressed in the same golf jumper and jeans as last time.

"Well, Harry, do I look like a muggle?" He asked happily, snagging a bacon sandwich off Fred's plate.

"Yeah, great." He said.

"Where are Bill, Charlie and Percy?" Ron asked sleepily.

"Well, they're apparating so they can have a bit of a lie in." Mr. Weasley explained.

"Lucky buggers." George mumbled through a mouthful of toast.

"So they can all apparate then?" Harry asked, full well knowing the answer but wanting to keep conversation.

"Charlie had to take the test twice. The first time he apparated right on top of some old dear doing her shopping." Said Fred, grinning.

"And Percy passed two weeks ago, he's been apparating down the stairs each morning just to show he could." Ginny said, giggling slightly. "Dad, why do we have to be up so early?"

"We've got a bit of a walk to the portkey." He replied, picking up a jacket from the back of a door. They all stood up to get ready when Mrs. Weasley yelled "George!" sharply.

"Yes?" He asked in an innocent tone.

"Empty your pockets." She ordered. Harry then noticed the twins' slightly bulging jeans pockets and grinned.

"We haven't got anything in our pockets, mum." Fred said.

"Don't you lie to me! Accio!" She called, jabbing her wand at them.

Several small, brightly wrapped sweets that Harry recognised as ton-tongue toffees zoomed through the air into the Weasley matron's outstretched hand.

"I told you to destroy them!" She said angrily, summoning them as the twins made grabs for them.

Again, they seemed to have been trying to smuggle as many as possible out of the house. They flew from just about everywhere, the same as the last time, and by the end, the two boys were glaring indignantly as their products were put in the bin.

"We spent 6 months developing those!" George yelled.

"Oh, such a fine way to spend 6 months in your OWL year! No wonder you didn't get that many!" She shrieked.

When they left to leave, Mrs. Weasley was still glowering angrily and the twins were still giving her the silent treatment, hoisting their rucksacks onto their shoulders and walking off without a word. They started off into a dark forest and Harry and the others left Mr. Weasley to catch up with the twins.

"She had no right to do that to us! That was our entire stock!" Fred grumbled. Harry smirked.

"Oh, was it now?" He said, rolling up his sleeves to see a load of fake wands and pointing to the insides of his boots to show more toffees. "You've still got these and everything in my trunk." He pointed out.

They grinned.

"You, sir, are a genius." George said, clapping Harry on the back.

Harry mock bowed. "I try my best." He joked.

Mr. Weasley called them back and they jogged back to his side, hiding the joke products. They kept walking for a while and searched for the portkey before they came to the top of a hill and heard a panting voice calling out. "Over here, Arthur! We've got it!" as Amos and Cedric Diggory jogged towards them, holding a rotting boot.

Amos and Mr. Weasley shook hands.

"Everyone, this is Amos Diggory, works for the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures. I believe you all know his son Cedric." He said.

Cedric said a nervous 'hi' to everyone, they all answered except Fred and George who hadn't quite forgiven him for beating Gryffindor in the match last year.

Cedric spotted Harry and grinned. "Hey, Harry. Sorry I didn't get a chance to write back. I'd be happy to take you up on that offer, it'll be good to get some training in." He said slightly breathlessly, having walked all the way up the hill.

Harry smiled. "Great, I look forward to it. Cho said she would as well."

The others looked at him oddly. "I heard in Diagon Alley that Quidditch would be cancelled at Hogwarts this year so I owled Cedric and Cho to see if they wanted to do some free for all matches at school so we don't get rusty." Harry explained.

The boys scowled slightly but nodded. Harry wiped his slightly damp fringe off his hot face and Amos' eyes widened.

"Merlin's beard, it's Harry Potter! Ced's talked about you of course, all about playing you last year. I told him - that'll be something you can tell your grandkids someday - you beat Harry Potter!" He said.

The twins scowled and Cedric looked slightly embarrassed.

"Harry fell off his broom because of the dementors dad, it was an accident." He mumbled.

"Yes but you didn't fall off because of dementors, did you Ced?" Amos roared happily.

Harry scowled slightly. "No offence sir, to either of you, but if Cedric heard his parents being killed by Voldemort to save him, I'm pretty sure he'd fall off his broom too." He said coolly, immediately shutting Amos up and causing silence.

Mr. Weasley broke it awkwardly. "Err, I think it's nearly time, are we waiting for anyone else?" He asked, checking his watch.

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets." Amos replied, not looking at Harry.

"Come on, better get ready. Just touch it, one finger will do." Said Mr. Weasley, making sure everyone was touching it.

He mentally counted down and felt the familiar yet hated hook on his navel.

Ron bashed against him but he managed to land on his feet, knees buckling slightly. He helped up Ron and turned to the ministry men.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill." One droned. Harry saw the man in galoshes tick something on a clipboard as the man in a kilt took the portkey and threw it in a box.

"Morning Basil." Arthur chirped.

"Mornin' Arthur, not on duty? Lucky for you, we've been here all night." He grumbled, "Hmm, Weasley… First field over that way, camp manager's Mr. Roberts. Diggory, Second field over there, ask for Mr. Payne."

They nodded and said goodbye, splitting up and setting off in their designated directions. After about 20 minutes walking, the sight of hundreds of tents lined up on the hill was exactly as Harry remembered it. They walked up to Mr. Roberts' cottage and knocked on the door. The man opened, looking slightly dazed from memory charms and smiled.

"Morning, you booked tents?" He asked.

"Yes, Weasley, two tents, I booked them a few days ago." Replied Mr. Weasley anxiously.

Roberts consulted a list tacked up in the doorway and poked a blank spot. "You've got a space right up by the woods there, just the one night?" At the nod he continued. "Right, you be payin' now then?"

Mr. Weasley nodded and backed up a little bit. "Help me, Harry." He whispered, pulling a roll of muggle money from his pocket. Harry pointed out each note in an undertone, trying not to let Roberts hear.

"You lot foreign?" He asked as Mr. Weasley handed the money over.

"Foreign?" Replied Mr. Weasley, puzzled.

"Aye, you're not the first ones, it's like some sort of rally, never been this crowded before. They all know each other, it's not just foreigners, it's weirdoes too." He said, just as a wizard appeared and obliviated him.

His eyes went glassy and he shook his head.

"Map of the campsite for you." He muttered, handing them a laminated map.

"Thank you." Mr. Weasley replied, taking it and striding back to the teens at the path, accompanied by the wizard in plus-fours.

"Been having lots of trouble with him, needs a memory charm ten times a day to keep him happy. And Ludo Bagman's not helping, trotting around talking about Bludgers and Quaffles at the top of his voice." He muttered wearily. "I'll be glad when this is over, see you Arthur."

He dissapparated.

"I thought Mr. Bagman was head of Magical Games and Sports?" Ginny asked, surprised, "He should know better, shouldn't he?"

"He should. But Ludo's always been a bit… lax about security." Mr. Weasley replied.

They trekked up the foggy slope between long rows of tents. Again, Harry noticed some that were so obviously magical, including the one with albino peacocks that he was almost positive belonged to the Malfoys. He checked it with his magical sight and confirmed Lucius' magical signature.

When they passed, as Mr. Weasley muttered about showing off, he threw a firework with a delay charm inside before shuffling and letting a ton-tongue toffee drop out of his sleeve near one of the peacocks. They eventually reached an empty spot with a signpost labelled 'Weezly'.

"Here we are! Couldn't have picked a better spot, the pitch is just on the other side of the forest." He shrugged off his backpack and picked up the tent.

"Okay, no magic, strictly speaking, we need to put up the tent by hand. Shouldn't be too hard. Harry, Hermione, have you ever been camping?" He asked.

Harry shook his head but Hermione nodded. They managed to work it out with a little discreet wandless magic from Harry, keeping Mr. Weasley from interfering too much with the mallet. By the end, they had erected a pair of shabby two-man tents. They stood back to admire it before being beckoned inside. Harry forced his jaw to drop at the small flat inside.

"Get out of the kitchen, Ron!" Mr Weasley yelled.

"Yeah, Ron, get out of the kitchen." The twins shouted from the main room.

"Fred, George, feet off the table!"

"Feet off the table!" They cried, removing their feet.

They were given a short tour before he, Hermione and Ron were sent to fetch water. They picked up a dusty bucket each and ducked under the flap, trekking towards the tap whilst the others went to find firewood. Now that the fog was lifting and the sun had risen, they could see hundreds of people milling about. Harry had a short morbid thought that it was similar to the refuge sites for survivors but pushed it away, determined not to think of that.

They passed the boy playing with the slug and his dad's wand, past the two girls playing on toy brooms and past the Salem Witches Institute before coming to the Irish tents.

"Well, it's very, green." Hermione said nervously, eyeing the shamrock laden tents.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" They heard, spinning round to see a happily grinning Seamus Finnegan with Dean Thomas beside him, waving. The trio walked towards them and smiled.

"Like the decorations?" said Seamus, "The Ministry's not too happy."

"And why shouldn't we show our colours?" Mrs. Finnegan said jovially, coming out of the tent "The Bulgarians are worse, you'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" She added, eyeing them. They nodded and said goodbye before walking off.

"Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot." Ron muttered

"I wonder what the Bulgarian tents are like." Hermione speculated.

"Let's go look." Said Harry, pointing to a large group decked out in Bulgarian colors. They all had the same poster of, to Harry, a very familiar face.

"Krum." Ron said quietly.

"What?" Said Hermione.

"Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker! He's really young, only eighteen or something. He's amazing, you'll see tonight." Ron said enthusiastically.

They reached the tap at the corner and joined the small queue. Again, they were behind the man in the nightdress. Eventually, they filled their buckets and walked at a steadier pace, being hailed by various Hogwarts students and Alumni who they knew. Harry made Ron tell the story about Bill's Brazilian pen friend by pointing out the foreign teens. George groaned in impatience when they reached the tent.

"You've been ages!" he said, helping them set the water down.

"Met a few people" said Ron distractedly.

"Dad not got the fire started yet?" He asked. George shook his head.

"Dad's having fun with the matches." Fred said, popping up next to his brother and nodding towards the elder wizard sitting by a pile of splintered matches.

Harry used a little wandless magic to make him drop the burning match on the fire, making it slowly roar to life.

"There we go." Said Mr. Weasley, settling down to wait for it to heat up enough to cook on. He started up a commentary of Ministry wizards going past, mainly for Hermione's benefit because his own children knew and Harry was only pretending to listen, zoning out and thinking.

After about an hour, the fire was ready and they just started to cook when 3 sets of footsteps and a loud "Just Apparated dad" informed them that Bill, Charlie and Percy had arrived.

"Excellent, lunch." Percy said, helping himself to a plate as the eggs and sausages. They were halfway through when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, grinning madly and waving.

"Aha!" he said cheerily. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"

Ludo was another face that hadn't changed a bit. He was still in his yellow and black Wasps robes and smiling like a lunatic.

"Ahoy there!" He called, jogging up towards them excitedly. "Arthur, old man, what a day, eh? What a day! Cloudless skies…hardly a hiccup in the arrangements…not much for me to do!" He said, just as a group of ministry wizards rushed past, stopping a violent fire shooting purple sparks in the air.

Harry lay on his stomach, head propped up on his hands and legs crossed behind him, watching amusedly as Percy sprang up with his hand outstretched.

"Ah, yes." Mr. Weasley said, grinning, "This is my son Percy, he's just started at the Ministry - and that's Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Ron - my daughter Ginny - and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."

Each of them waved as they were introduced and Harry gave a lazy salute at the double take and eyes flicking towards his scar.

"Everyone, this is Ludo Bagman." Mr Weasley introduced, "You know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets."

Bagman beamed and bounced on the balls of his feet. "Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" He asked eagerly, gold jangling in his pockets.

"Oh…go on then. A galleon on Ireland to win." Mr Weasley said.

"A Galleon?" Bagman looked slightly disappointed but carried on. "Very well, very well, anyone else?"

"They're a little bit young to be gambling," Mr Weasley started "Molly wouldn't like -"

"We'll bet thirty-seven galleons, fifteen Sickles and three Knuts," Fred and George said, pooling their money together, "That Ireland win but Krum gets the snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand. Harry?"

Harry rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist, causing one of the fake wands to shoot out.

"You don't want to go showing Mr Bagman rubbish like that!" Percy hissed, but Bagman interrupted him with a roar of laughter as he waved the wand and it turned into a tin mouse with a squeak. His boyish face glowed with childish happiness as he took it from Fred.

"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years!" He said, still laughing. "I'd pay 5 galleons for that!"

Percy stood, stunned.

"Now boys, that's all your savings…your mother," Mr Weasley started.

"Now Arthur, don't be a spoilsport!" Ludo boomed. "They're old enough to know what they want! So, you reckon Ireland will win but Krum will catch the snitch? Not a chance boys, not a chance."

He whipped out a notebook and quill and jotting down the bets.

"Cheers." George said, taking the slip of parchment and tucking it in his pocket. Bagman grinned and turned back to Mr Weasley.

"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposites making difficulties and I can't understand a word he's saying…"

Harry zoned out the rest of the conversation, playing with a small rubber snitch toy and rolling onto his back, throwing it up and catching it quickly. He was startled slightly when Crouch apparated next to them and Percy jumped up to give him a cup of tea. He kept one ear on the conversation, snickering slightly at the 'Weatherby' comments.

Eventually, Crouch and Bagman dissapparated and the twins tried to know what was happening at Hogwarts. The afternoon dragged on with them staying around the campsite, occasionally seeing someone they knew. By dusk, everyone had given up trying to stop everyone using magic. Salesmen apparated every few feet with trays of all sorts of merchandise. Eventually, Mr Weasley gave them the go ahead to go buy souvenirs and Harry, Ron and Hermione split from the twins and Ginny, strolling between the stalls and salesmen. Ron had a large green rosette, a dancing shamrock hat and a small figure of Viktor Krum, Hermione had a green rosette and a shamrock pin that glowed green whilst Harry bought a large Irish flag that was currently draped around his shoulders. They were just walking back to the tent when Harry spotted the Omnioculars salesman out of the corner of his eye.

"Whoa, look at these!" He called to his friends.

"Omnioculars," Said the eager salesman.

"You can replay action, slow it down, play-by-play break down, do just about anything. Ten Galleons each."

"Wish I hadn't bought this now." Ron said, gesturing to the dancing hat on his head.

"Three pairs." Harry said, handing over the money to the salesman.

"No - Don't bother." Ron mumbled, the tips of his ears going red.

"Ron, pay me back when you're a famous auror slash Quidditch player. For now, it's a thank you for inviting me." Harry said firmly, thrusting the omnioculars into his and Hermione's hands.

"Thanks Harry. I'll grab us some programmes." Hermione said, taking three free programmes off a pile.

They reached the tent to see all the Weasleys minus the twins with green rosettes and Mr Weasley with a smaller version of Harry's Irish flag. A deep, booming gong rang out somewhere on the other side of the woods as red and green lanterns sparked to life, lighting a path.

"It's time!" Mr Weasley said, face lit up in glee. "Come on, let's go!"

They hurried into the woods, Mr Weasley into the lead and following the lit trail. They were surrounded by thousands of people, shouting, laughing and a few singing off key. The atmosphere was exactly as Harry remembered it. They walked through the woods for about 20 minutes, talking and joking, even singing when the twins and Harry started up a loud round of 'We are the Champions'.

That could have been the infectious excitement or the shot of firewhiskey they'd had each, courtesy of Bill and Charlie. Harry had to immediately turn off the low level magic object sight he had on as they approached the stadium, the blinding gold lights mixing with the shining silver wards.

"Seats a hundred thousand." Mr Weasley said, spotting the amazed looks on their faces. "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. There's all kinds of wards and muggle repelling charms on it."

He lead the way to the nearest entrance, handing their tickets to a Ministry witch.

"Prime seats!" She said, checking the tickets. "Top box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."

The purple-carpeted stairs sloped upwards, droves of people peeling off the higher they got. They kept climbing until they found themselves in a small room, dead centre between the goalposts, with about 20 chairs in two rows. Harry filed into the front seats with Ron and Hermione on his left and the twins on his right. Harry looked down and split a grin, where he came from, the whole crowd would either be dead, dying or running around in Death Eater robes by now.

Thousands of witches and wizards of all ages were settling into their seats, starting raucous chants and cheering. Harry noticed that the stadium was so soaked in magic it was actually letting off a golden glow. Harry was sorely tempted to summon someone's broom and fly out onto the pitch, but held himself content with watching adverts flit across the blackboard opposite him. After a moment he wrenched his eyes off the crowd and turned to look if anyone else was there, deciding to forgo the conversation with Winky.

He suddenly remembered Crouch Jr. in the seat behind him and checked his wand was firmly strapped in his holster. He then saw that Ron's wand was missing from his back pocket and gave a grim sort of smile. Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started to test them on random people in the crowd.

"Wicked!" He cried, fiddling with the replay button. "I can make that guy pick his nose again…and again…and again…"

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to her programme. "A display from the team mascots will precede the match." She read aloud.

"Oh, that's always worth watching. National teams bring creatures from their native land, put on a bit of a show, you know." Mr Weasley said.

Gradually, the box filled. Mr Weasley shook hands with most of them and Percy again acted like he was sitting on a hedgehog, throwing dirty looks at Harry who was greeted by the minister like an old friend and introduced to wizards on either side. When Fudge tried to introduce him to the Bulgarian minister, Harry grinned and started to speak Bulgarian. "You'll have to excuse our minister, he's…well, he's ..."

"A moron?" The other man supplied.

"I was going to say complete idiot, but your words work too." He shrugged.

Their minister snorted. "Very true. I speak English fine, it's just fun to make him try sign language. Svanik Obalonsk, pleasure to meet you." He replied, holding out a hand.

"Harry Potter. Pleasure's mine, Sir. Good luck with the match, I hear you have an excellent seeker in Viktor Krum." Harry said, still in Bulgarian, shaking the man's hand firmly.

"Thank you. I've heard you're an incredible seeker too, Mr. Potter. Will we see you in the next world cup?" The minister teased. Harry blushed slightly.

"I don't know, I still need a lot of practise. I still need a good opposition, though, Hogwarts Quidditch does get a bit easy on the seeking front." He admitted.

Obalonsk let out a short booming laugh. "Well, we'll see. I might be able to get you a one on one match with Viktor. Now, I do believe your friends want you."

Harry turned and saw half the box staring at him, wide eyed.

"Oh yeah, thanks. By the way, keep teasing Fudge till the end of the match, it's funny." Harry joked.

The minister nodded and Harry turned back to the Weasleys and Hermione, ignoring the sputtering Fudge.

"Mate, you never said you spoke Bulgarian." Ron said quietly.

"You never asked." Harry replied, glaring at the doorway as the Malfoys came in.

"Ah, Lucius, there you are!" Fudge cried happily.

Lucius Malfoy sneered at Harry before masking it.

"Ah, Cornelius, how are you?" He drawled, shaking the minister's hand. "I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

"How do you do, how do you do?" Said Fudge, offering a short bow to Mrs Malfoy. "Allow me to introduce you to Mr Oblansk - Obalosk -Mr, well, he's the Bulgarian Minister for Magic and has no idea what I'm saying. Harry, could you…Er…" He trailed off, making a hand gesture.

Harry nodded. "As you heard, that's Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. Lucius has Fudge in his pocket, bribery in the form of donations and the like. He's an evil git, quite frankly." Harry said in rapid Bulgarian.

Obalonsk nodded, hiding a scowl. "Ah, that makes sense. I'm really starting to detest your minister, can't you do something about him?" He asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, the worst I can do is prank him and make him look like an idiot. Half our ministry is corrupt, you learn to just skip them and do it yourself if you want things done. Luckily they won't interfere at Hogwarts because of Dumbledore."

Obalonsk shook Lucius' hand and nodded at Narcissa and Draco. "He says pleased to meet you." Harry lied on the spot, causing Lucius to smirk.

"I wasn't aware you spoke Bulgarian, Mr. Potter." He said.

Harry gave him a smirk to rival his own. "I'm just full of surprises."

Fudge ignored them and went on. "And I daresay you know Arthur Weasley?"

"Good Lord, Arthur," Malfoy said softly "What did you have to sell to get seats in the top box? Surely your house wouldn't fetch this much?"

Fudge, again not listening, said, "Lucius has just given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital, Arthur. He's here as my guest."

Harry gave a glance to the Bulgarian minister that clearly translated to 'see my point?' and Obalonsk nodded, frowning.

"How - how nice." Mr Weasley said with a forced smile.

Mr. Malfoy gave a sharp stare to Hermione, who glared determinedly back, before he settled on a sneer and sat down. Draco glared at Harry, who then shocked the blonde with a 'Snape death glare' as he liked to call them. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned back to face the pitch again.

The next moment, Ludo Bagman charged in. "Everyone ready?" He asked, his face shining in anticipation. "Minister - ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, Ludo." Fudge said, settling back into his chair. Ludo whipped out his wand and performed a sonorous charm, yelling over the sound of the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The crowd screamed and roared, national anthems bellowing from merchandise and spectators alike as the blackboard wiped clean before showing BULGARIA: ZERO, IRELAND: ZERO.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce…the Bulgarian team mascots!"

The side of the stands that was a solid block of scarlet, cheered maniacally as a hundred Veela glided out onto the pitch. Harry automatically slammed his occlumency shields up full blast, protecting him from the Veela charm. He watched amusedly as Ron stood up but grabbed his arm before he could do anything stupid. Mr Weasley tugged the half-shredded shamrock hat from Ron's grasp.

"You'll be wanting that, once Ireland's had their say." He said, gently pushing Ron back into his seat.

"And now," Ludo started, "kindly pt your wands in the air…for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Harry watched as the Leprechauns zoomed around the stadium, showering them with gold coins. He grinned at Ron when he shoved a load of Leprechaun gold into hi hands, failing to remind him that it disappears after a few hours. Eventually, they drifter down opposite the Veela and settled down to watch the match.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov! Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaand - Krum!" Bagman yelled as the Bulgarians went wild and seven red blurs shot onto the pitch.

"That's him! That's him!" Ron yelled, focusing his Omnioculars on Krum.

Harry smiled, Viktor looked young compared to how Harry knew him, even though he was nearly eighteen already. Bagman called out the Irish, they zoomed out on their firebolts, green robes flapping wildly in the wind. Harry watched in awe as the game started, keeping the play-by-play at the bottom and keeping a mental note of which ones he hadn't tested yet.

Even though he already knew what the score would be, he was still amazed at the skill shown. He looked through his Omnioculars when Krum and Lynch dived the first time, estimating the space Krum left. He would say he left it to about a foot. Harry grinned inwardly, in his time, he'd managed to perfect it to about 6 inches off the ground before he pulled up. He'd spent a lot of his free time doing outrageous stunts on his broom that he had yet to see he could do still. His trunk ceiling wasn't high enough. The match progressed in a similar fashion to the last one, yet still kept him on the edge of his seat as Krum dived for the snitch, nose streaming with blood. Lynch ploughed into the ground and mediwizards rushed on, tending to both seekers.

Bagman called the final score over the cheering, clapping and stamping of the crowd. "What did he catch the snitch for?" Ron yelled. "He ended it when Ireland were 160 points ahead!"

"He knew they weren't going to win, wanted to end it on his own terms." Harry bellowed back, his voice slightly hoarse from cheering.

The lights flared brightly, illuminating the whole top box and Harry turned to face the two wizards carrying the cup to Fudge.

"Vell, ve fought bravely." Said a gloomy accented voice. Harry grinned and turned to see Fudge stuttering at Obalonsk.

"You can speak English!" He said, outraged. "And you've been letting me mime everything all day!"

"Vell, it vos very funny." The Bulgarian said, shrugging.

Fudge turned to Harry, who held up his hands in surrender.

"Hey, you told me he didn't speak English, I took your word for it." He said.

Fudge scowled but went to greet the slightly dejected Bulgarian team, including the bloody-nosed Krum.

"Let's have a hand for the gallant losers - Bulgaria!" Bagman yelled. The stadium erupted into cheers and Harry clapped enthusiastically as the Bulgarian team filed down the row of seats and shook hands with both Ministers. Harry was almost deafened when Krum's name was called.

Then the Irish team came up, Lynch supported by Moran and Connolly. He seemed disoriented but grinned anyway when Troy and Quigley lifted the cup to thundering applause.

The Irish left to do another lap of honour and Obalonsk tugged on Krum's elbow, leading him to Harry.

"Viktor, this is Harry Potter, I believe you know who he is. Harry, this is Viktor Krum." He said in Bulgarian.

Krum seemed to notice the language and looked at him sceptically, so was surprised when Harry replied back fluently. "Pleasure to meet you. That was a really good match, the Wronski feint you did was amazing! I should really try that out some time, it looks like fun." He said, grinning.

Viktor smiled and Shook Harry's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you, too. I've heard about you, everything to do with You-know-who."

"Harry's the Gryffindor seeker, and a damn good one from what I've heard. He could probably give you a run for your money, Viktor." Obalonsk said.

Harry blushed lightly at the praise and Viktor's grin widened.

"Really? Well, we'll have to see about that. Here, take this. We'll meet again and when we do, you owe me a game of Quidditch." He said, handing Harry the struggling snitch in his hand. Harry looked at it in awe and snapped his head up.

"Thanks. You're on, but I think your team wants you. It was nice meeting you." Said Harry, nodding towards the crowd of scarlet clad players calling Viktor over.

Viktor gave him one last crooked grin before wiping some blood on his sleeve and turning with his Minister to go back to the team. Harry walked back to where Ron and the others were waiting.

"Whoa, mate, is that the snitch?" Ron asked hoarsely. Harry grinned broadly and nodded.

"I owe Viktor Krum a game of Quidditch." He said weakly, collapsing onto a chair and inwardly applauding himself at being such a good actor.

Ron let out a low whistle and Harry noticed Draco Malfoy glaring at him from his seat. Ludo put his wand to his throat and muttered "Quietus" to cancel the spell.

"They'll be talking about that one for years. Ah yes, I owe you…how much?" He asked, for the twins had scrambled over the backs of their chairs with their hands outstretched, grinning mischievously.


	3. Chapter 3

**To Save The Future**

**Wingedhybrid**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. This story was adopted by me – the original idea came from Rainbow Stripes.**

Chapter 3

Harry was on alert that night, after celebrating till gone midnight, he slept as he did in the war, the slightest sounds of panic waking him up. He was woken up by a loud explosion and screams, scrambling to put shoes, jeans and a sweatshirt over his boxers and t-shirt, his wand already on his arm, he saw Mr Weasley was waking Bill whilst Charlie woke Percy.

"What is it?" Harry asked, taking cue from the others and rousing Fred.

"Death Eaters. Hurry, all of you, just grab a jacket and get outside. Quickly!" Mr Weasley said once everyone was awake.

They immediately perked up and slipped jackets on, filing outside to meet the girls who had jackets over their pyjamas. The three eldest boys came out fully dressed, wands out and sleeves rolled up. There were tents burning all around and Harry could see the Death Eaters in the distance, the four muggles bobbing in the air above them.

"Quick, get into the woods and stay together! I'll come get you when it's all sorted out." Mr Weasley said, Bill Charlie and Percy had sprinted off to join the ministry officials trying to get Mr. Roberts' family down.

"C'mon." Fred said, grabbing Ginny's hand and starting to pull her towards the woods, George next to him and Harry, Ron and Hermione behind. People were screaming, children were crying and panicked yells were ringing through the air. Then Ron yelled with pain.

"What happened?" Hermione said, her and Harry stopping abruptly.

"Ron? Where are you?" She called.

"Oh, this is stupid. Lumos Maxima." Harry said, his wand tip lighting up. He directed it and saw Ron lying sprawled on the path.

"Tripped over a tree root." He said irritably, getting to his feet.

"Well, with feet that size, it's hard not to." The drawling voice of Draco Malfoy said. They turned and saw the blonde leaning against a tree, arms folded.

Harry groaned. "Fuck off Malfoy, we haven't got time for you to tell us about how your precious father is one of those bastards in Death Eater masks." He spat.

Malfoy did a slight double take but slid his blank mask back on.

"Language, Potter." He scolded mockingly. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Sod language, I can think of a lot worse things to call you but frankly, you're not worth it." He said, muttering a spell under his breath. Malfoy's black slacks and dark green silk shirt instantly became a sparkly pastel pink tutu with Drama Queen written on the back in hot pink, loopy glitter writing.

"Have fun, we'll be going now." He called, dragging his friends away into a small clearing where they all burst into laughter.

"Harry, that was priceless! Where'd you learn that?" Ron gasped.

"Padfoot." Harry replied. Hermione pursed her lips.

"Harry, won't you get a warning for underage magic?" She asked in a disapproving tone.

"Nope, there's too much magic in the area, it won't show up on their sensors. Besides, can you honestly see them caring with what's going on out there?" He asked rhetorically, gesturing to where the screams were coming from.

In reality, Harry still had the little gold ring on his wand, but it was illegal and he wasn't going to tell them about it.

Hermione nodded abashedly and looked around. There were groups of panicking people hurrying past and Fred, George and Ginny were nowhere to be seen. A huddle of teenagers in pyjamas were arguing and Harry recognised them as the French teens. Sure enough, one girl walked up and said quickly "Ou est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue-"

"Je suis desolé, nous allons au Hogwarts." Harry replied.

The girl's face fell but she nodded anyway and thanked him before rushing back to join her group.

"Err - what?" Ron said, confused. Harry rolled his eyes.

"They're French. I'm assuming Beauxbatons. They're lost and they were asking where Madame Maxime is, whoever she is." Harry explained.

A look of comprehension dawned on Ron's face and he dug in his pocket to find his wand.

"Ah! I don't believe it! I've lost my wand!" He exclaimed. "You're kidding?"

"No, I can't find it!" Ron moaned.

They kept walking, reassuring Ron that his wand was just in the tent. They passed Winky and the group of Veela, dragging Ron away into an empty clearing. Harry had taken them in a different route to avoid Bagman. The trees behind them rustled and they froze. Everything was silent in their clearing, except for muffled footsteps behind them.

Harry turned slightly and heard the deep voice of Crouch Jr. shout "Mosmordre!", followed by the huge rising dark mark. Immediately, a circle of ministry wizards apparated with their wands out.

"Duck!" Harry yelled, dragging his two friends down as a chorus of stupefies were yelled.

"Stop! Stop, that's my son!" Mr Weasley yelled, running to their sides. "Ron - Harry – Hermione. Are you alright?"

They nodded and Crouch walked up to them, wand out. "Which of you did it?" He snapped. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

Harry stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "You do realise who you're accusing, don't you? Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. A muggleborn, blood traitor and the boy-who-lived. Whoever conjured it was over there." He said once he'd calmed down.

Crouch looked a little sheepish and led the team to where Harry had pointed.

Harry leant over and whispered to Ron and Hermione. "Guys, I'm sorry about the muggleborn and blood traitor things but to the Death Eaters, you are." He said apologetically.

Ron nodded and Hermione waved him off. "It's okay Harry, we know what you mean."

Harry was in a sort of daze through the accusations, Winky's questioning and Ron's wand being found. He snapped out of it when they got back to the tent and saw the others were okay. There was silence for a while before Harry looked up, his expressionless face staring into nowhere.

"That was sick, and disgusting, and I'm going to bed. Goodnight." He said in a hollow sort of voice, going to his bed. He heard the sounds of everyone following and soon the tent was filled with the snores of Ron and Charlie.

The next day passed similar to the last time, Mr Weasley being questioned by reporters whilst the others stood off to the side, watching in annoyance. Eventually, they made it home to be fussed over by Mrs Weasley.

They just lazed about for the rest of the day until dinner, when Mr Weasley had an announcement.

"Kids, your mother and I need to go away for a couple of days, doing a favour for Dumbledore. Bill and Charlie will be in charge, boys, make sure they have everything ready for school, don't let them get into trouble. We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning." He explained.

The Weasleys did incredibly well to hide their grins and frowned.

"Okay, if you really have to go. We'll be good." Ginny said innocently.

The two elder Weasleys smiled.

"Good, now, off you go." Mrs Weasley said.

They scrambled from the table and the twins, the trio and Ginny went up to Ron and Harry's room, shutting the door and sitting down on the beds.

"Alright! We get the house to ourselves for 2 days! We can do pretty much anything with Bill and Charlie in charge." Fred exclaimed happily.

Harry grinned. He had somehow changed the timeline so much that Dumbledore was getting the order in early.

"Cool. So what do we do now?" He asked.

The twins shrugged in unison and Hermione frowned. "Have all of you done your summer homework?" She asked.

"Yes Hermione." They all droned, rolling their eyes.

"Good. What? I was just checking so that you didn't have to do it when your parents are away." She said defensively. They settled down and played a few games of exploding snap before going to bed.

The next morning, Harry woke up early and slipped into his trunk, only to find Hedwig fly in with a letter. He grinned, knowing it was from Sirius and tore it open.

_Harry_

_I'm heading north. That dream sounds strange, you should tell Dumbledore about it. I'm glad you're out of your relatives house, hope you had fun at the cup before the Death Eaters came. _

_Speak soon_

_Love Padfoot_

Harry suddenly had a plan and scrawled a note.

_Padfoot_

_Meet me in Moony's full moon hideaway on Thursday 2nd September at midnight, I have a plan. The cup was awesome, D.E's were evil bastards, staying at the Weasleys till schooltime._

_Love Harry_

He tied it to Hedwig, who nipped his finger affectionately before flying off, out the charmed window. He went through his basic sets before having a quick shower and climbing out, just before the twins awoke.

"Hey mate, how long have you been up?" George asked.

"About an hour, I don't sleep much. Help me wake Ron up, will you?" replied Harry, walking over to Ron's bed and shaking him.

In truth, he'd been up about 2 hours but didn't want them getting suspicious, he'd tell them when he was ready. The three managed to wake Ron and came downstairs to find Ginny, Hermione and Charlie cooking breakfast whilst Bill read the paper.

"Morning, you lot. Sleep well?" Bill asked, looking up over the top of the Daily Prophet. They nodded and sat down, grabbing toast off the stacks as Charlie levitated plates of food onto the wooden table.

"So, what should we do today?" Fred asked through a mouthful of eggs. Harry swallowed his juice and thought for a moment.

"Why don't we play quidditch? If Hermione plays, we can have two chasers, a beater and a keeper on each team." He suggested.

Hermione frowned. "I don't know…" She started, but Harry gave her huge green puppy-dog eyes.

"Come on." He whined, making her laugh.

"Oh fine, no one can say no to those eyes now your glasses aren't in the way. Just a heads up, Harry, you do realise you're going to have half the girls drooling over you at school, don't you?" She teased. Harry blanched and gave her a horrified look.

"Oh, gods no. I'm doomed. I don't want hordes of girls, Hermione and Ginny are scary enough as it is!" He said dramatically, before ducking two swipes at his shoulder from aforementioned girls. "Okay, I take it back, you two are lovely, sweet tempered ladies, but that doesn't stop me being afraid of the female population in general."

He ducked for cover as Ginny threw a roll at his head. A look of comprehension suddenly dawned on Hermione's face.

"You're gay, aren't you Harry?" She asked casually.

Harry paused. "What? How'd you guess, am I that bad?"

Hermione suddenly squealed and hugged him, muttering whilst Charlie started banging his head on the table.

"Whoa, Hermione, off. Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I like all that stuff like shopping and gossiping." Harry said, prying her off his side.

"No, it's just I've always wanted a gay best friend!" She said excitedly.

Harry nodded, backing away slightly, and turned to Ron. "You okay with this mate? You've been pretty quiet." He said.

"What? oh. Yeah, I kind of already knew. I recognised the signs, I do have 2 gay and one bi brothers you know." He said.

Harry feigned confusion and Ron pointed to the grinning twins and Charlie, who was still banging his head on the table.

Harry nodded in understanding. "Err, what's up with Charlie?" He asked. Charlie looked up.

"Why, oh, why does he have to be a minor! Harry, couldn't you have waited to tell us until you were 17?" He moaned. Harry chuckled.

"Hey, give it three years, you never know what could happen." He said with a sly wink. Charlie grinned. "You got yourself a deal, Potter." He replied.

The twins pouted. "And what…"

"About us?" They asked. Harry grinned.

"Now you two, Fred, you've got a girlfriend, but George, so long as you warn me first, you can ravish me in the hallways as much as you like!" He joked.

They laughed and nodded. "Great, let's go play some quidditch!" He yelled as they all raced upstairs to get their brooms and the Quaffle Bill had found at a thrift store. They all met on the pitch, Hermione borrowing a spare cleansweep 6, and Charlie picked out two large apples to charm as Bludgers. Bill, Harry, Hermione and Fred were on one team as Keeper, Chasers and Beater respectively, whilst Ron, Charlie, Ginny and George made up the other team. Hermione was slightly wobbly and Harry coached her through a few moves.

They played a game of first to 200, in which Ron's team won by 3 goals, before Bill charmed a walnut and set Harry and Charlie against each other. Harry grinned and decided to test out a Wronski feint, diving sharply. Charlie followed and Harry waited until he was almost touching the ground before pulling up, leaving Charlie to plough head over heels into the grass.

Harry grinned as a dazed Charlie stood up and gave him the thumbs up. "Nice move, Har! Let's see what else you can do on that broom of yours!" He yelled.

Harry took that as a queue and started testing his limits with rolls, loops and dives to whoops from his 'crowd' He then grinned mischievously and stood sideways on his broom, crouched low, as if it was a skateboard, and zooming off, using his back hand to guide the tail and turn. In his time, Hermione had invented a sort of flying snowboard and Harry loved testing tricks on it. He did a few kickflips and stunts before directing it to the ground and jumping off, smiling broadly. There was a stunned silence before Hermione walked forward.

"You're a boarder." She stated.

"Amateur at best, Dudley went through a skater phase, I got the leftovers. Thought it'd be fun to crossbreed with flying." Harry replied. She nodded.

"Flat or downhill?" She asked. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Mainly flat, though I do prefer downhill. Surrey doesn't have many downhill places, only the few bowls, bars and ramps at skate parks. You board?" He asked.

Hermione nodded. "Downhill and mountain, occasionally flat, always wanted to try snow, though. Shame there's nowhere to board at Hogwarts." She said sadly.

Harry smirked.

"Au contraire, fair lady. I bet you 2 galleons I can grind the grand staircase, top to bottom." He said.

Hermione gasped. "Harry, that's damn near impossible, you'll kill yourself. Deal." She said, holding out a hand. Harry shook it and Ron walked forward.

"Okay, what are you two talking about?" He asked, confused.

Harry laughed and explained the basics of skateboarding and the different types, including mountain boarding, downhill skating and snowboarding.

"I must say though, I didn't expect shy, quiet little Hermione to be a boarder." He remarked.

Hermione smiled sweetly. "I'm shy, quiet and bookish on the outside, but on the inside I'm crazy, outgoing and full of surprises." She said. Harry smirked.

"Reads: Total Dyke." He joked. Hermione slapped him lightly.

"Says captain adrenaline junkie with a leather fetish." She retorted, motioning to his leather trousers and jacket.

Harry pouted. "I do not have a leather fetish!" He yelled indignantly.

Bill snorted. "Hate to tell you this, mate, but it's either a leather fetish or you're going punk. Choose one." He said calmly.

"I choose punk, I'm not always wearing leather, it's just because black looks good on me." Harry tried to explain. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, captain." He said, saluting Harry.

Harry groaned and shook his head. "Anyway, who wants a go on my Firebolt?" He asked.

That evening, they came in muddy, sweaty and exhausted. They each had quick showers before Harry made a quick dinner of pasta and tomato sauce. They stayed up chatting, reading and playing chess, after having a good laugh at Ron's dress robes, until bedtime, where Harry waited for Ron and the twins to fall asleep before writing quick notes to Severus and Remus as updates, and his plan for Sirius.

Soon enough, Mr and Mrs Weasley were back, and it was September 1st. Bringing with it the traditional morning before school chaos. Hermione had made sure Ron and Ginny had everything the night before, as Harry had just been taking things out of his trunk and putting them back in, so those four were ready earlier. The twins still had various prank items laying about in theirs and Ron's room that needed to be picked up, before Ginny nicked Bill's wand and accioed them. They learned a little about Mad-eye Moody (again) from Amos Diggory, and managed to persuade Mrs Weasley to perform shrinking charms on their trunk so they didn't have to fit all 6 of them in the muggle taxis they ordered. By 10:45 am, they were walking through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾.

Mrs Weasley and the two elder boys (Percy was at work) hugged them all goodbye and they walked onto the train, the twins splitting off to find Lee Jordan and the other four finding a spare compartment. They spotted one at the back of the train and filed in, just as the timer went on their trunks and they went to full size.

"Perfect timing." Ginny said brightly as Harry gave her a hand putting her heavy load on the luggage rack. Hedwig was still out so Harry had put her cage in his trunk, thus the only animals were Pig and Crookshanks. They settled themselves down and the red steam engine began to move away from the station.

The ride to school was pretty much similar to the last time he did it, spending most of the time looking out the window at the storm. They waved to Hagrid by the lake before getting a carriage to themselves, staying to the centre so as to avoid the rain lashing through the side entrances. They dashed up to the castle, robes over their heads to hide from the storm, the large oak doors opened as the flood of students ran in, each trying to take cover.

"Blimey." Ron said breathlessly. "That's - AHHH!" He cried as a large red water balloon burst over his head.

"PEEVES!" McGonagall screeched, storming down the stairs. She skidded on the wet floor and had to grab onto Hermione's neck to stop herself from falling.

"Oh, sorry Miss Granger." She apologised, standing up and straightening her robes.

"It's okay, Professor." Hermione said, massaging her neck.

Harry zoned out as the poltergeist was scolded and the new first years were sorted, trying to ignore the awe-filled stares of the Creevey brothers. He snapped back into reality when Dumbledore began to announce the tournament and pretended to look shocked. He was just about to start eating when a huge crash of thunder came and everyone jumped. _'3…2…1' _he thought, just as the door swung open loudly.

_Step, clunk, step, clunk._

The pattern of the fake Moody's feet echoed through the silent hall.

"Ah, I would like you to welcome our new defence teacher, Professor Moody!" Dumbledore called.

People began to cheer when they recognised the name and Harry scowled when the grizzled man took a swig of potion from his flask, tempted to knock it out of his hands. The man sat in the empty chair beside Snape, who Harry could see was just restraining himself as well, and they all went back to eating.

"So, you lot going to find a way to enter? We are." Fred said, sipping his pumpkin juice.

Harry shook his head. "I'd prefer a year at Hogwarts where nothing tries to kill me, thanks." He said dryly, the others nodding sympathetically.

"It would be nice, though, and the prize money for winning." Said Ron, a dreamy expression on his face, sausage in his mouth. "The house elves have really outdone themselves this time." He mumbled, shovelling mashed potato into his mouth at an inhuman speed.

Hermione gaped. "House elves? This food was made by slave labour?" She said indignantly, shoving her plate away. Harry quickly headed the argument off.

"Hermione, the house elves get paid if they want it, but most find it insulting, they also think that if you don't eat their food, you're insinuating they're bad cooks, then they get upset. You don't want to upset the poor creatures, do you Hermione?" He asked, winking at Ron over her shoulder.

Hermione frowned, but nodded and resumed eating. Once all the food was gone, the group made their way through the castle to Gryffindor tower, the twins discussing ways Dumbledore might prevent underage people from entering.

Harry, Ron and Neville said goodnight to the others, dragging themselves up to bed sleepily. Harry changed into his pyjamas, putting up his usual silencing and proximity wards before falling into an exhausted sleep.

By the next morning, Harry was up early and exercised in his trunk before getting his books together and putting his uniform on, already planning for what to do when Sirius got there. He woke up Ron and waited for his friend to get dressed, then the duo went down to find Hermione waiting for them in the common room. They silently walked to breakfast and Hermione compared their timetables.

"We're outside all morning today, damn, still got Creatures with the Slytherins." Ron muttered.

"Damn, double Trelawney this afternoon." Harry groaned.

"Well you should have given it up like me then, shouldn't you." Said Hermione curtly.

"Well, it's too late now." Harry pointed out, grabbing his bag and going with the rest of the Gryffindor 4th years out to the Greenhouses.

Harry went through his lessons mechanically, having to keep reminding himself to keep to a 4th year level and amusing himself by looking around with magic sight at the swirling colours of the objects around him. He paid full attention in CoMC with the skrewts, remembering that the babies had a ticklish spot on their backs.

He ignored when Hermione dashed off to the library to research for SPEW, slept through divination and only came out of his daze when Malfoy started to read from the newspaper, smirking inwardly as Malfoy whipped out his wand and shot a spell at Harry.

"Oh no you don't, laddie!" Moody yelled, turning his wand on the blonde and muttering a spell, turning him into a small albino ferret.

"Did he get you?" He growled at Harry.

"No, missed." The teen replied.

"LEAVE IT!" Moody yelled at Crabbe, who was trying to pick up the animal, which gave a terrified squeak and tried to run, but ended up bouncing on the cobblestone path.

"I don't like people who curse others when they've turned their backs." Moody said gruffly.

"Never - do - that - again." He said, punctuating each word with a bounce.

"Professor Moody!" McGonagall's shocked voice rang out as she rushed towards them, arms full of books.

"Hello Professor McGonagall." The ex-auror said calmly.

"What are you doing?" McGonagall demanded, eyes following the progress of the ferret as it hit the stone floor.

"Teaching." Moody replied.

"Moody, is that a student?" Shrieked McGonagall.

Moody shrugged. "Technically it's a ferret."

McGonagall pulled out her wand and reversed the spell on Malfoy, leaving him lying in a ruffled heap on the floor.

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment, surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?" She scolded.

"He might've mentioned it, yeah." Moody trailed off as he was pinned with a sharp glare.

"Fine, fine, I'll speak to his head of house, come on lad, come with me." He ordered, picking Malfoy up off the floor and taking him by the elbow back into the castle.

Harry spent the rest of the day acting normally, until it was time for him to meet Sirius at the shrieking shack. He pulled his invisibility cloak and the marauders' map out of his trunk, before shrinking it and putting it in his pocket, creeping silently out of Gryffindor tower and checking the map so as not to run into any unwanted teachers.

He made it safely out to the grounds and sprinted across the grass towards the Whomping willow, levitating a branch to immobilise it. He slid down the hole into the passageway and into the decrepit building, using his magic sight to find the room Sirius was in. He saw the deep purple light that signified an animagus and raced up the stairs to see him. He burst through the door and grinned as the huge black dog morphed into his godfather.

"Sirius!" He cried happily, hugging the man.

Sirius hugged back fiercely, before releasing him. "Harry, is there something wrong? Why did you need me to meet you?" He asked worriedly.

Harry chuckled. "No, it's nothing like that, I just had an idea on how you could hide from the ministry but stay safe and still be close to me, look."

He took out the trunk out of his pocket and resizing it. He opened it, revealing the steps down, and did an exaggerated bow.

"After you." He said with a grin.

Sirius grinned back confusedly and lowered himself into the trunk, opening the door and gaping at the rooms inside. Harry moved past him and snatched his pensive off the shelf, pushing it into Sirius' hands.

"Look, Siri, I don't have time to explain right now but I need you to look through this pensive. It's memories from a future that happens if I don't sort it out. In all reality, I am 19 years old. Me, Severus and Moony were the last 3 people left on the light side, we invented a time turner to send our minds, abilities and memories back 5 years. Once you've looked through the pensive, I'll answer questions. Help yourself to anything around here, the window in the bedroom is charmed to let owls come and go, I'll come down and see you soon. Okay?"

Sirius nodded dumbly and Harry smiled.

"Good, Showers is that way, bedroom's that way, training room's over there and Kitchen is across the room, I'll be down to train early in the morning, get some rest. Night." He said rapidly, pecking him on the cheek and sprinting off, leaving the ragged man standing dazedly, pensive in hands, staring at the space where his godson stood.

By the day of their first Defence class, everyone was excited about having Moody teach them. They eagerly sat in seats in the classroom, Harry, Ron and Hermione up front, and just got their books out when the tell-tale thud, clunk of Moody's wooden leg sounded, alerting them to the man's entrance.

"Right, I've read through some notes on your previous classes, and not counting the pathetic excuses for lessons you had the first two years, you're pretty well informed about creatures, but, you're behind on your curses." He started. "Can anyone tell me the name of the group of curses that are punishable by a life sentence in Azkaban?"

A number of hands went up and Moody pointed to Hermione. "The Unforgivable curses, there are 3 of them, and they are so called because they are unforgivable." She said shakily.

Moody nodded. "Good, now, who can name one of these curses?"

Again, a few hands went up, this time Ron was nodded to.

"Th-the Imperius curse" He said questioningly.

"Yes, that curse gave your father quite a bit of trouble in the last war." He took out the jar of spiders and ushered the first one onto his hand.

"Imperio." He said forcefully, flicking his wand at the spider.

It started to tap dance across the desk, jumping from person to person and making everyone but Harry laugh.

Moody smiled grimly. "What should I make her do next, 'ey? Jump out the window, drown herself?" He shouted, making the spider slam into the closed window, stopping the laughter abruptly. "A lot of people claimed to be under this curse when doing the Dark Lord's bidding, only we can't tell who's lying. Next curse!"

He picked Neville, who answered hesitantly.

"The Cruciatus curse."

"Good boy, the pain curse, if held under this curse for long enough, it can make a person go insane." He took out the next spider. "It needs to be bigger to see properly, engorgio." Ron flinched as the spider tripled in size. "Crucio"

The spider began writhing and squealing on the desk as its body surged with unbearable pain, causing images to flash by Harry's mind. Ron and Hermione being tortured in front of his eyes, closing his eyes at night to be visited with visions of countless families being held under this curse for fun.

"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him!" Hermione cried, looking worriedly at Neville, who was pale and shaking.

Moody looked up and immediately cancelled the curse, shrinking the spider and putting it back in the jar.

"Right, final curse, yes, Potter." He said.

"Avada Kedavra, the killing curse." Harry responded in a hollow voice, memories of hundreds of friends and enemies alike falling to this very curse.

"Ah, yes, you'd know all about that one, wouldn't you. The killing curse, the only person to have ever survived it is sitting right here in front of me. Avada Kedavra!" He said harshly, pointing his wand at the final spider.

Harry flinched violently as the green light shot out of the impostor's wand, leaving the spider still and unmoving.

"Right, I want an essay on the 3 curses and their history in for next lesson, class dismissed."

The class scrambled out of the classroom and most hurried to lunch, but Harry just walked shakily down the staircase. He knew it shouldn't affect him so bad but it reminded him of the losses he came to stop. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't see Snape coming up the stairs, resulting in bumping into him.

Harry felt a small glass vial slip into his pocket as his Professor scowled, straightening himself up.

"10 points from Gryffindor, Potter, look where you're going." He sneered, walking off.

Harry ducked into an alcove and fished the vial out, recognising it as calming draught. He smiled weakly and downed it, immediately feeling it work.

He jogged down the stairs to catch up with his friends and sat next to Ron at the Gryffindor table. "

There you are, mate, where were you?" He asked, handing Harry a sandwich.

"Went to get a calming draught from Pomfrey, the lesson brought up some bad memories." He half-lied, holding up the empty vial. Ron and Hermione nodded understandingly and Ron refrained from commenting on the lesson.

The days before the arrival of the delegates went by quickly. Harry spent some of his time speaking with Sirius, who, once over his shock, had hundreds of questions about the future, along with giving Harry some god prank ideas which he shared and executed with the twins. He also played a lot of one on one quidditch with Cedric and Cho, becoming good friends with the couple.

Soon enough, everyone was crowded outside in the grounds, waiting for the two schools to arrive.

"I wonder how they're going to get here." Hermione whispered to the two boys.

Harry shrugged, looking up in the sky for the Beauxbatons carriage.

"Look, up there!" A 2nd year yelled, pointing to a small black blob on the horizon.

"It's a plane!" One muggleborn cried out.

"Don't be stupid! It's a flying house!" His friend shouted.

He was closest as the golden carriage landed with a dull thunk on the grass, the huge white pegasi slowing to a halt.

The doors opened and two blue-clad boys jumped out, letting down some stairs. Harry could hear a few girls sigh at their looks and rolled his eyes, honestly, they were hot, but from his experience a lot of them were extremely shallow. Harry watched as Madame Maxime stepped gracefully down from the carriage, followed by a group of students, each boy with a girl on his arm. Dumbledore bowed and kissed the large woman's hand.

"Madame Maxime, such a pleasure to have you here." He said politely.

"Zank you, Professor Dumblydorr, eet is good to be 'ere." She said with a heavy French accent.

"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" She asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Not yet, Madame, but he should be soon."

Just as he said that, a first year started bouncing up and down, pointing excitedly.

"The lake! Look at the lake!" He called.

All heads turned to see the magnificent Durmstrang ship emerging from the black water and gliding towards the shore. The line of Durmstrang students marched behind their headmaster, all dressed in furs.

"Albus!" Kararoff exclaimed, hugging the aged man. "It is good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Igor, Shall we go inside?" Dumbledore asked, holding out an arm to Madame Maxime, who took it, and lead them into the great hall.

Harry could hear some of the Beauxbatons students chattering in rapid French about how Beauxbatons was better, but ignored them and sat between the twins at the Gryffindor table, Ron and Hermione opposite.

The Beauxbatons students sat at the Ravenclaw table like last time, But the Durmstrangs, instead of going to the Slytherin table, were led by Krum to the Gryffindor table, where he stood behind Harry.

"May I sit here?" He asked, his thick accent marring his words slightly.

Harry looked up and grinned, shuffling up to George to make a space between him and Fred.

"Sure." He replied perkily as Viktor sat down. Hermione eyed him suspiciously as he sat there grinning like a maniac.

"Fred, George, exactly how much coffee did Harry have today?" She asked slowly.

The twins looked at the brunette, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry Hermione, we may have lost count after the third mug." Said Fred.

"But it can't have been that much, he's still sat down." George added.

Hermione groaned. "Merlin, I'm so glad I got that calming draught earlier or he won't sleep tonight." She muttered under her breath. "Terribly sorry about that, Harry seems to be on a bit of a caffeine rush at the moment, he'll snap out of it soon." She said to Viktor, who raised an eyebrow at the raven haired teen, who was bouncing in his seat.

"I'm Hermione Granger, This is Ron Weasley, his little sister Ginny, Neville Longbottom, and the Weasley twins, Fred and George. Pleased to meet you." She said, pointing to each person in turn, who waved, except Ron who just sat there and gaped.

Viktor grinned. "Viktor Krum, the pleasure's mine. Is he alvays like this?" He asked apprehensively, gesturing to Harry.

"Nope, he's usually worse." The twins said in unison.

Hermione reached over and poked them both in the shoulder. "Boys, stop it, you're scaring him! Harry's not usually like this, this is only when he's had too much coffee. Normally, he's, well, I won't say completely sane, but he's less insane than he is now." She explained.

Viktor nodded uneasily, and was about to say something when Dumbledore stood up. "May I be the first to welcome our guests to Hogwarts, I hope you enjoy your stay here. Let me introduce to you, our judges for the tournament. The headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy, Madame Maxime."

The hall clapped politely as the woman nodded kindly. "Also, the headmaster of Durmstrang School, Professor Karkaroff."

Again, Karkaroff gave a slight bow to the applause. "We also have Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Cooperation, and Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. They are here to judge, and also make sure the tournament goes as planned. Now, I'm sure you're all hungry, so let the feast begin!"

As he said that, the golden plates filled with mounds of food, this time there was foreign things as well. Hermione poured Harry a glass of pumpkin juice and added a small dose of calming draught, forcing it into the boy's hands. He drank it, then immediately relaxed.

"Thanks, Mi, I needed that." He said, before turning to Viktor.

"Sorry about that, I kinda lost track this morning, considering these two are supposed to limit my intake, but I was dead tired." He explained.

"It's okay, I haff a friend who is like that too." The Bulgarian admitted.

"Harry James Potter! If you were so tired, you should have gone to bed earlier instead of going out flying with Cho and Cedric, leaving your homework till last minute!" She scolded.

Harry pouted. "But Hermione! I had plenty of time for homework after flying, I just had to help plan for the-" Here, George slapped a hand over Harry's mouth. "Err, nothing Hermione, Harry and I just went for a walk after that, didn't we Harry?" He said with a pointed look at the green-eyed boy, who nodded.

"Alright, what are you three planning?" Ginny demanded.

Fred looked up at her, shocked. "Why, Gin-Gin, we never thought we'd see the day you tried to stop one of our pranks." He cried dramatically.

Ginny rolled her eyes."I'm not trying to stop it, moron, I want in."

The 3 pranksters seemed to have a silent conversation, before turning to the youngest redhead. "Okay, meet us in the common room after dinner." Harry said, after freeing his mouth.

Hermione pursed her lips but Neville held her back.

"Just leave it, Hermione, they're going to do it anyway. Someone might want to wake Ron from his quidditch fantasies though. He's a massive fan of yours." He added to Viktor, who blushed slightly.

Harry and George looked at each other, then Fred, and all 3 of them whipped out their wands. One whispered spell later and Ron was being snapped out of his daze by 3 roast potatoes poking him in the face.

"What?" He asked stupidly.

"Err, mate, you zoned out a bit there." Neville said slowly.

Ron looked around and blushed. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"It's okay, can you please pass the carrots?" Viktor asked politely. Ron nodded and handed the golden bowl to the older boy.

"So,how many of you are planning on entering?" Viktor asked, deflating the embarassing silence.

"Well, none of us are old enough." Ginny started

"But that's not gonna stop us!" the twins cut in.

"yes, the twins are trying to find a way even though we told them it's useless. Apparently, Angelina Johnson, she's down there, is going to enter, she had her birthday over the summer. I think most of the Gryffindor 7th years are entering. Don't know about the other houses." She said.

"Cedric's entering, and so's his friend Jack Hopper, you know, the Hufflepuff beater?" Harry added.

Viktor grinned at that and immediately started up a conversation on Quidditch. "Well, yeah, the Wronski feint is good, but if you're playing against an observant player and they realise, they'll come out of it before you, which gives them a few free seconds." Harry argued, before he was tapped on the shoulder.

He turned and had to fight a smile at the sight of Fleur Delacour. She's married Bill and was pregnant with twins before Death Eaters killed her and her family. "Excuze moi, are you finished with ze bouillabaisse?" She asked.

Harry nodded and passed the fish stew to her.

"Merci." She said quickly before walking back to the Ravenclaw table, seemingly oblivious to the male heads turning to look at her.

"She's a Veela!" Ron said in awe.

"Honestly, Ronald, I don't see all the other boys drooling over her." Hermione huffed.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "She's probably part Veela or something" He suggested.

Dinner went by in idle conversation, the occasional argument, and at one point, everyone growing antlers (courtesy of the twins and Harry.) They knew they were getting looks from everyone around the room, and Harry snuck a look at the staff table. Dumbledore had the ever present twinkle in his eyes and his beard was hiding a large grin, McGonagall looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or take points, Severus had a sneer on his face but Harry could see he was amused, Karkaroff was scowling and Maxime just raised her eyebrows at the group.

"Are they alvays this crazy?" Viktor whispered to Hermione, watching the boys and Ginny having a fierce discussion about the best way to prank the whole school (with privacy charms in place, of course).

Hermione sighed. "Unfortunately, they're normally worse. If it weren't for the fact we have guests, each and every one of those ideas would have been tried and tested by now."

Viktor nodded understandingly, wondering just what he'd gotten himself into. Finally, the last of the puddings disappeared and the group rid themselves of various colours and attachments on their person, before taking down the privacy charms and facing Dumbledore, angelic expressions on their faces. Harry had a feeling that Dumbledore had been able to see through there illusion, because the aged headmaster looked as if he was about to burst into laughter.

"Well, now that we're all fed and watered, I would like to announce, the Goblet of Fire!" Everyone cheered as the casket was opened, showing the magnificent goblet, blue flames dancing in the cup.

"To enter the tournament, write your name and school on a piece of parchment and place it in the goblet. I will be placing an age line around the Goblet in a moment, so I trust none of the underage students will be able to enter, and I encourage you not to try." He said with a pointed look towards the twins, who grinned innocently. "Very well, the Goblet will announce the champions at 10pm after the Halloween feast. Please make sure you've entered beforehand. Thank you, goodnight."

Immediately, he drew the shimmering golden line around the goblet and sat back down, watching as Madame Maxime led her students out of the hall. The group of Gryffindor's and Krum were just leaving the hall when Harry's arm got grabbed. He turned and came face to face with a grinning Cedric.

"Hey Harry, we still up for tomorrow morning?" He asked.

"Depends, do we have a snitch? Mine's still got a bent wing from getting stuck under the rafters." Harry replied a little sheepishly.

"Yeah, I can get the one from the Hufflepuff set. I am captain, remember?" The brunette teased.

Harry grinned and gave him a mock bow. "Then of course, o' merciful badger captain, I'll meet you and Cho by the pitch before breakfast. Good luck in entering, by the way." He called as Cedric sprinted off to tell the Ravenclaw seeker.

Harry turned back to find his friends waiting for him and Viktor over with Karkaroff and the other Durmstrang students.

-Random-

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Shit! Fucking Hell! Hide me, Ced!" Came a panicked voice as one Harry Potter burst into the great hall and dived under the Hufflepuff table by Cedric.

"What did you," But the other champion was cut off when the doors swung open a second time and Ginny Weasley stormed in, hair in rainbow-coloured braids and wearing a flashing pink tank top and mini skirt.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" She screeched, marching over to her snickering brother.

"Where is he?" She asked, her voice dangerously low. Ron swallowed his laughter and pointed to the Hufflepuffs, where Cedric was innocently handing toast under the table.

Ginny walked over to the 7th year and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Cedric..." Her voice had gone sickeningly sweet and Cedric winced, knowing he was in trouble.

"Yes, Ginny?" He asked neutrally.

"Can you please move so I can brutally murder the immature prick who likes to call himself my honorary brother?" She asked.

Cedric nodded hastily, sliding up the bench and nudging Harry out with his foot.

Harry squeaked and tried to crawl away, only to be grabbed around the waist and hauled out into the open.

He sent a pleading look to a 3rd year across the table, who shook his head, and glared at Cedric.

"I hate you, sometimes, I really do." He said scathingly as he was dragged away.

"If I'm not back by dinner, I've been murdered, give Ron my firebolt!" He cried dramatically as the door closed on him. There was silence in the hall, before Fred coughed.

"Well, that was an interesting start to the day." He said cheerfully.


	4. Chapter 4

**To Save The Future**

**Wingedhybrid**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. This story was adopted by me – the original idea came from Rainbow Stripes.**

Chapter 4

"Eternal glory ... would be great wouldn't it?" Ron asked Harry as they watched the numerous number of 17 year old put their names into the Goblet.

Harry pushed his hands further into his pockets. "I guess."

The doors swung open and loud cheering followed Cedric Diggory into the room. Harry watched as he was pushed further into the age circle, towards the centre of the magic. There was silence for a moment as he placed the folded up piece of paper in and the flames turned blue before the cheering started again and this house mates tried to lead him out of the door. He managed to pause for a moment to turn to Harry and smiled.

"I got the snitch, when you want to play?" Cedric asked.

"After lunch, it's free period right?" Harry suggested, "Get a team together and I'll get mine."

"You're on."

The two shook hands before Cedric left the room and Harry turned to Ron, grinning.

"Wanna play?"

Ron blinked a few times. "What?"

Harry laughed and clapped him on the back, "You can play Keeper."

He didn't get a chance to argue because another round of cheering echoed around the room and Fred and George, followed closely by Lee Jordan, ran into the room, carrying small vials in their hands.

"Freshly brewed this morning!" George yelled, grinning widely.

"Brewed what?" Harry asked, playing the fool.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains." Fred answered with the same grin as his brother.

"It's not going to work." Hermione spoke in a sing song way, not looking up from her book, "Dumbledore drew the line himself. He's not going to be out smarted by something as incredibly dim-witted as an Aging potion."

"Ah, but that's the beauty of it."

"It's so incredibly dim-witted."

The two brothers looked at each other before saying, "Bottoms up!" and downing the small vital each hand in their hand. There was an uneasy silence as they jumped over the age line. The twins froze for a moment, expecting something to happen to them, before the cheering began again and they soaked it up, edging the crowd on in a way that made Harry smirk.

'_Same old day, same old twins …'_

In perfect unison, the two leant up and dropped their folded pieces of paper into the flames. The cheering continued, no one noticing the flames turn from blue to red or the sizzling sound that followed. What they did notice was Fred and George being thrown out of the Aging line and onto the floor, their faces now equipped with identically long beards.

The hall filled with laughter. Even Fred and George joined in after they'd gotten up and caught a look at their bearded faces.

Suddenly silence rung out and the crowd slowly parted to see Viktor Krum with a group of his other Drumstrang buddies and Karkaroff. Harry's eyes darkened with distaste. Viktor placed his name into the goblet, turned, gave Hermione a pointed look and a smile at Harry before turning and leaving the room.

Whispered filled the room as the students slowly relaxed from being in the same room as the famous Quidditch player. Harry raised an eyebrow. It was strange how people got around the well known, the celebrities of the time.

"Mr. Potter." Snape stopped Harry as he left the room in which the Goblet of Fire was held with Ron and Hermione. "A quick word, if you please."

The two held their gazes in complete silence for a moment where nothing moved, no one spoke, as if exchanging quiet words, before slowly Harry nodded.

"Of course Professor." he answered coolly, keeping up appearances before glancing towards his two best friends. "I'll see you guys at lunch."

With a quick flick of his wrist, he followed his professor through the halls in complete silence, the act of cold displeasure between the two showing good acting skills, at least until they were in the comfort of Snape's office that was situated just above the dungeons within with the Potions class took place like ritual.

"How is settling back into being 14, Hunter?" Shade asked, almost throwing himself down on his seat, his feet coming up on his table in a relaxed way.

"Different." was Hunter's simple answer, "How's it being the evil Potions Master again?"

Shade sighed in aggravation. "Painful – I forgot how bad teaching you pests got. Are your hunting skills working fine?"

"More than fine - maybe because I'm younger the skills are working better than they did before." Hunter smirked, cocking his head to the side. There was silence for a moment before he finally said; "Now I know you didn't call me in here to exchange pleasantries – you want to talk to me about the Triwizard Tournament."

"Moony's already lost Vale, Hunter. Don't make him lose you too." Shade answered instantly, his voice deadly serious.

"I'm stronger now than I was before. I'm changing things for the better." Hunter said in a low voice, his head down, as he remembered Vale, "I'll be safe – I promise."

Shade stared at him for a moment before he gave a sharp nod. "Understood Hunter. You may go. Oh, and write to Moony – you know how he worries about his cub."

Hunter nodded quickly before turning on his heel and leaving the office, heading towards the Great Hall.

Lunch was an exciting time. A break from lessons, to talk with friends and enjoy the wide spread meal that the House elves of Hogwarts had prepared. But, today, it was a tiring ordeal. His conversation with Shade had left him feeling drained under the memories of all he had lost, all he would lose. He spend the entire half an hour period picking at a plate of spaghetti with cheese sauce and, when free period came around, his smile of excitement was forced as he made his way towards the Quidditch fields with his team, consisting of Ron, Fred and George, Cho (who thought it would be brilliant to beat her boyfriend at his favourite game) Ginny and a 2nd year called Annabelle Smith, who he had met once previously and learnt of her skills as a chaser. Hermione accompanied them, but she planned to sit in the stands. Harry had asked if she wanted to join them, out of courtesy, but the girl had merely laughed at the suggestion and told him, "I would rather keep my feet on the ground thank you very much".

They met Cedric on the pitch, each holding brooms which they had either picked up from the Broom closest or brought with them when they were asked to join in with the playing of a friendly game against Hufflepuff. Most were buzzing with excitement.

"Still up for that game Harry?" Cedric asked as they neared, "You're looking a little peaky."

"Run in with Snape. Nothing to worry about – I assure you it won't stop us from kicking your ass." Harry taunted, smirking playfully.

Cedric laughed. "Yeah, that's what you think Potter."

Cedric team held a large range of people; some Quidditch players looking for a serious game, some normal students whom we looking for some fun. Harry recognised a few of them: Harriet Bartlett, a 6th muggleborn who had fallen in love with the magical game from her first day at the school and was an apparently good beater; Chambers, 7th year chaser for Ravenclaw; Herbert Fleet, Hufflepuff Keeper; Tasmin Applebee, Hufflepuff chaser; Aaron Collins, a close friend of Cedric's from when he was a kid who had tried out as a chaser but had just missed the spot thanks to Maxine O'Flaherty, though he was now playing as a beater; and Malcolm Preece, Hufflepuff Chaser.

The game began not minutes later, Quaffles being thrown every way possible as both sides struggled to get the red ball away from the other team when they got a hold of it. Harry circled the pitch slowly, above the action, just content in watching the match play out while watching out for the small, golden snitch that Cedric had released a minute before the real game had started. Chambers had the Quaffle for a moment, speeding off towards the three hoops that were on the left side of the field, before he lost his grip when a well-aimed Bludger hit by Fred Weasley came hurtling towards him and he had to pull away sharply. As the Quaffle dropped, Annabelle swept in and grasped, turning tail and heading towards the right hoops, Tasmin on her tail. Fleet straightened up, preparing himself for the ball. Annabelle swerved away from Tasmin, narrowly missing Harriet, who was looking out for the Bludgers in the way of her teams players, and threw the Quaffle as hard as she could. It hit the top of Fleet broom and bounced off. Ginny moved underneath and knocked the ball towards the hoops. It was a surprise for Fleet, who hadn't a chance to block the attempt to score and cause Harry's team to lead: 10-0.

Smiling slightly as he listened to the whoop of excitement Ginny let out at the pride of scoring the first point, even if it was in a friendly match, he felt more light-hearted. He knew thinking of the happy, bubbly child should make him smile but it only made him feel depressed and guilt-ridden. This game with friends ... it was exactly what he needed.

Preece had the Quaffle this time and skillfully dodged the Bludger that was aimed towards him. He swerved around players as they attempted to block his path and sent the Quaffle flying towards the goal. Ron turned sharply and blocked the ball with his shoulder. Cho carried the Quaffle this time and was hit in the arm Bludger sent by a very pleased looking Harriet, obviously proud of herself. Tasmin swooped in, Quaffle under her arm, and flew beside Fred as the Bludger – sent by George – came towards her. It knocked the beater off course, if only slightly, towards the chaser that had been tailing her, which gave the 6th year time to avoid attack and head towards the hoops. She feigned aiming to one hoop and, when Ron moved accordingly, she shot at the hoop away from him. Both teams were now tied: 10-10.

It was a good move, Harry had to admit. Tasmin was a talented chaser so her skills were probably useful. He would have to suggest the move to Angelina, Katie and Alicia the next Quidditch practise. It could be useful ...

The game was pretty much the same all the way through. Harry's team would score, then so would Cedric's team. They were almost tied after 45 minutes of circling the pitch, Cedric's team only 10 points in front of Harry's. Free period was an hour long, as was most of their lessons, so Harry knew they had to wrap this game up soon, with enough time to get changed and ready for the next lesson (it was Potions and, although Snape was still Shade in disguise, he has to hold up appearances). With that in mind, he used the special factors he had added before school started to search the field and the sky above for any movement from the golden snitch. Out of the corner of his emerald eyes, he could see Cedric copying his movements just a few metres away but, of course, the Hufflepuff didn't have the same advantages that Harry now had. For a while, Harry was certain that the snitch had wandered off, having a mind of its own, across the grounds of Hogwarts but that theory went out of the window when he caught sight of the flash of gold that was flitting just above Cedric's head. Glancing at the 7th year slyly, he continued circling, not wanting to give away he had seen it while not letting the snitch out of his sight. It was only when the blasted thing decided he was bored of just floating there and taunting him, that Harry made a sharp move, rocketing towards his unsuspecting opponent. Seeing the fast moving seeker, Cedric immediately moved out of the way, turning as the golden snitch flew pass his head. The two boys instantly followed, hot on each others tails. The game below had slowed to a halt as the two teams watched their seekers chase the snitch, head to head. It was really close, one slowly over taking the other and vice versa, as they followed the snitch that was making a jagged path across the field. It did a quick dive in an attempt to escape, dipping low to the grass below. Harry picked up speed, getting closer, if he could get the blasted thing before it reared up then it would be so much easier but he wasn't sure whether the snitch would allow that. He shifted closer to the edge of his broom, using one hand to steer and steady himself while the other was outstretched, only a few inches away from winning the match. His sense told him Cedric wasn't that far behind him – he could see the end of his broom and a hand just behind him. The speed the two were moving at was incredible. Both knew it would be hard to pull away once they caught the snitch – or it got away, either one. Harry's watch beeped 1:22. Eight minutes left before end of the period. This had to finish quickly. He didn't think as he moved – as he allowed himself to slide off his broom, his hand clenching shut.

An universal gasp crossed the field as they watched 14-year-old Harry Potter, Seeker for Gryffindor, allowed himself to tumble from his broom to reach the snitch, falling five yards to the ground. The Firebolt hit the ground gently, lighter from the sudden disappearance of weight, a few metres away from the place where Harry had hit the ground. There was a moment of absolute shock where no one moved, even Cedric pulled his broomstick to an abrupt stop in mid air, before everyone instantly landed and rushed to the side of their fellow student. In the distance, Hermione could be seen making her way, quickly, onto the pitch.

"Harry, mate, are you all right?" Ron asked worriedly, leaning over his friend. Harry laid there for a moment, still, his eyes closed, before he groaned quietly and shifted slightly – a sigh of relief escaped the worried friends – as he struggled to sit up.

"You shouldn't move Harry." Hermione scolded worriedly, "You just fell from your broom!"

"I didn't fall ... I jumped ..." Harry muttered, ignoring his friends order and sitting up, wincing as his back popped from the impact of the landing. He smirked up at Cedric, who was standing over him. "I told you I would win Ced ..." He stretched his free hand out shakily, revealing the golden snitch that now sat in the palm of his hand, no wings showing the submissiveness to capture.

After spending some time with Hagrid after Potions (in which Hermione spent most of the time talking about S.P.E.W – usually that would annoy Harry but he was just grateful Hermione was still the same as he remembered her to be) Harry, Ron and Hermione, accompanied by Hagrid who had lathered on a lot of cologne especially for Madam Maxine, made their way up to the castle for the Halloween feast and, more importantly, the announcement of the school champions. Harry tried to remain interested but he found it a struggle. He could feel the acid in his stomach churning with the nervousness as he remembered everything that happened the last time he had gone through this, mainly the losing of his friend. He was never quite sure why Ron took the calling of his name so personally but it was a dark time for him, feeling so lost and without his first friend ... he didn't want a repeat, though he had no idea how to prevent it.

"Ron ..." Harry spoke quietly, seriously, causing his friend to turn towards him curiously, "What happens tonight ... just remember, I had nothing to do with it. I can't prove it or explain it to you right now ... just trust me, all right? Promise me you won't jump to any conclusions ..."

Ron, though really confused, nodded slowly. "Okay mate ... whatever you say ... are you all right?"

Harry just smiled wiry, his eyes sparkling with hidden knowledge. "I'll explain it all later. I promise."

When they entered the candlelit Great Hill it was almost full. As Harry remembered, the Goblet of Fire had been placed in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teacher's table. The feeling in his stomach getting worse, Harry took a seat between Ron and George. He tried to concentrate on the conversation that was going on around him – something about Angelina being picked as one of the champions, if he remembered correctly – but he found it difficult. This moment was the beginning of everything, the beginning of the troubles that followed, and it was all because of that stupid, fucking bastard, Barty Crouch Junior! Unknowingly, he glared threateningly at the polyjuice enforced form of this years Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers. He hadn't even realised he was doing it until Shade formed a mental connection with him.

"_Be careful cub. Don't rouse suspicion ..." _he warned.

Harry instantly moved his gaze to the table. _"Sorry Shade ... I can't help it ... everything is that arseholes fault ... and I can't do anything to change that ..."_

"_Trust me, I know the feeling. I can smell the polyjuice potion from here – it's amazing no one realised until it was too late ... Hunter, remember you can't say anything – you can't stop this from happening ... it is how things are meant to be ..."_

"_May I ask a favour Shade?"_

In the distance, he could see Snape straightened up in his seat, curious yet expecting. _"Depends on what it is Hunter ..."_

"_Can I tell Ron? It's been so long since he's been around me and I can't have him hate me because of something ... he decides to do for old Voldie-locks. I can't do it – not now ..."_

There was a couple of seconds of silence. For a moment, Harry thought the man wasn't going to answer.

"_...Fine ... tell Weasley, but only him, understand? Moony is already annoyed at me for letting you keep Sirius so close to the school, telling anyone else might push him over the edge ... but we care about you cub – do as you feel."_

A feeling of relief washed over him at the confirmation for the go ahead. Though it was only a year of war, Snape and Harry had gotten close – not as close as Snape and Remus, but close all the same. It meant a lot to him to get the man's approval after all he had done over the years for him. Sending a quick thank you to the man, Harry broke the connection and turned towards his close friend.

"After dinner, wait for me outside the common rooms. I have something to explain to you." Harry mumbled.

Ron raised an eyebrow but couldn't do anything more than nod in agreement before Dumbledore began to speak, drawing the attention of the room towards him expectingly.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision." Dumbledore said loudly. In his mind, Harry mimicked the words as they came. This moment was one that had stayed with him. "I estimate it will require another minute. Now, when the champions name is called, I would ask them please to come up to the front of the hall, walk along the staff table and go through into the next chamber, where they will receive their first instructions."

He waved his wand across the hall and all the candles in the room, except for those inside the carved pumpkins went out. The goblet shone more brightly in the dimmed room, the flames that admitted from the top of the cup sparkled brightly were almost painful to watch. Everyone held their breath in anticipation, waiting.

The flames inside the goblet flared and turned red, sparks beginning to fly from within the depths. A moment later, a tongue of flames shot into the air and charred piece of parchment flitted down into the open hands of Hogwarts Headmaster.

"The champion for Drumstrang ... will be Viktor Krum ..." Dumbledore announced. A loud cheer broke out across both the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables where the school was now spread out. Their cheers were heard most of all over the cheers of the other schools as they clapped and shouted happily. At the Gryffindor table, Krum stood up smiling, receiving hard pats on the back in congratulation, and made his way to the chamber, as instructed.

"The champion for Beauxbatons ... is Fleur Delacour."

"The Hogwarts champion ... is Cedric Diggory!"

The cheer for the next table muted the shout of annoyance from Ron but, to Harry, it was far in the distance, muffled by the ringing in his own ears and the churning in his stomach. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Snape leaning back in his chair, shifting awkwardly – a habit the man had picked up over the years having spent so much time around Moony – and their gaze met. No more pretending or stalling – it was happening _now_!

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real —" But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.

Harry raised his head away from the table, narrowing in on the goblet, where the fire had turned red once again. The entire school and their guests watched in confusion as yet another flame shot out and bore another charred piece of parchment.

"Remember what I said Ron ..." Harry muttered seriously, standing up abruptly, strongly, as Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out: "Harry Potter..."


	5. Chapter 5

**To Save The Future**

**Wingedhybrid**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. This story was adopted by me – the original idea came from Rainbow Stripes.**

Chapter 5

_And this is the beginning of it all_, Harry mused.

He was leaning against one of the walls in the chambers they had been led into, his arms folded across his chest and he watched the other champions around him, waiting for the teachers and Ministry officials to sweep into the room, just as he remembered.

He counted to three. On cue, the doors swung open and the swarm of adults bustled into the room with expressions varying from concern to anger. Only Snape seemed to be completely relaxed but, then again, Hunter wouldn't expect anything less from the man that was Nightshade. He straightened up when the Headmaster approached him with an oddly angry and concerned twinkle in his blue eyes.

Dumbledore grasped his upper shoulders tightly. "Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire? Did you?" After a pause, he continued, "Did you ask one of the older students to do it for you?"

"No." Harry insisted forcefully.

"You're absolutely sure?"

"Yes sir."

"Well of course, he is lying." Madam Maxine argued, roughly pushing a light from her path as the teacher's stalked forward, closing in on the 4th year student.

"The hell he is!" Mad-eye Moody objected loudly, "It's an exceptionally powerful magical object. Only an exceptionally powerful Confudnus charm could have hoodwinked it - magic way beyond the talent of a fourth year."

"You seem to have given this a far bit of thought, Mad-eye." Karkaroff sneered.

"It was once my job to think as Dark Wizards Karkaroff. Perhaps you remember." Mad-eye muttered back darkly, his stare piercing.

"It's up to you Barty." Dumbledore stated, watching the Ministry Official closely.

"The rules are absolute. The Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract." Barty Crouch stated, turning slightly to watch Harry, who had repositioned himself against the walls once again and was watching the chaos with a cool expression, "Mr. Potter has no choice. He is, as of tonight, a Triwizard Champion.

"You better have a good explanation for this…" Ron muttered sourly.

He had been waiting outside the Gryffindor common room, as he promised although he didn't want to, for the last 15 minutes, waiting on Harry. He couldn't say he wasn't annoyed – he really was – but he had made a promise and he intended to keep it.

Harry beamed at him, surprised but happy. "I didn't think you'd actually wait for me…"

"I said I would, didn't I?" Ron hissed back, straightening out, his scowl still in place, "Now…what were you talking about at dinner?"

His smile faltered as he glanced around them nervously, maybe suspiciously. "Not right here - it's too open…I have a better place in mind – follow me…"

Ron watched his best friend leave with a look of disbelief on his face. Sighing in defeat, he sluggishly followed a few paces behind. At first, he had no idea where they were going, but once he saw the Whomping Willow, he pulled up short.

"The Shrieking Shack?" he gapped, "Harry, what are you thinking?"

Harry tilted his head to the side slightly, thoughtfully, as he continued closing in on the hidden entrance to the old house, in the base of the dangerous tree. "It's quiet and safe – no chance of being overheard. Plus, there's another person I need to talk to. He's probably annoyed I kept him waiting for so long…"

However hesitant, Ron pursued his strangely vague friend – after all, he knew him well and he wouldn't intentionally lead him into jeopardy. That didn't change the fact he _really_ didn't like that damn tree – bad experiences have warped his views, no matter what any of the teachers said.

Harry moved forward confidently and strongly, as if he'd done this a thousand times. Even when the Whomping Willow seemed to sense their presence and move forward to attack, the boy was not fazed. He simple jerked his hand sharply, silently, and the tree stilled, waving in the breeze as it had done before. Ron stopped and stared, astounded, until his friend turned and reminded him that the spell only lasted a few minutes. Hurriedly, he moved to the base of the tree. Harry held the trap door open for him to enter first, before following himself.

Silently, Harry continued on, the unsteady footfalls behind him reminding him that Ron was still following – something he was glad for. They came up through the trap door in the floorboards of the ground floor hallway and, after some scrambling on the unsteady floorboards, continued on their way towards the top floor, where a brown leather suitcase was now situated in the middle of the floor.

Remembering seeing these portable homes in one of his mother's magazines, Ron cautiously made his way down the steps (that creaked with the heavy pressure) coming to a halt when he heard the sound of movement somewhere deep in the bag. Harry gently pushed passed him and continued walking into the house, calling his Godfather's name.

Sirius appeared an instant later, holding a burnt saucepan in his left hand. His face was a mixed of expressions; anger, happiness and, more importantly, amazement. To Ron, it was as if something had changed between the two. Though he hadn't seen them together much, from the little he had seen he had pieced together that Harry was in awe of his Godfather but, in this moment, it was as if the roles had reversed.

"What took you so long?" Sirius demanded frustrated, "You leave me with a pensive and don't explain anything properly. Then, you left me here for almost a week without a letter or a visit – this was worse than Azkaban."

Harry winced. "Sorry Sirius, really."

Sirius huffed, blowing his hair out of his face. "Whatever, I believe you. Just explain what the hell is going on."

Harry nodded in answer, gesturing towards the chairs that were placed in the corner of the room. "You both might want to sit down first. This is…difficult to explain."

There was a pause for a moment before the two slowly dropped themselves into the seats, shifting uncomfortably and watching the student in front of them. His emerald eyes darted anxiously between the two males before he began pacing in a circle, about a foot from where they now sat. He watched his feet with full concentration, running his hands through the messy mop of hair on his head. For a split second, Sirius thought he was watching James pace their dormitory when he was preparing himself for his first date with Lily.

Suddenly, Harry sighed and stopped stiffly. He gazed blankly at them. "I know you're going to have trouble believing this – I mean, I would if it were the other way around but…I'm from the future…"

Ron's jaw dropped in disbelief at the sudden, and unexpected, statement. Sirius, on the other hand, remained neutral since he already knew this bit of information. He made an over exaggerated movement of his hand to encourage the time traveller to continue.

"As expected, a full scale war broke out between the Deatheaters and the Light Side, about two, maybe three, years from now. I'm not going to lie – we're losing, badly. Everyone's afraid. Afraid they're going to lose their jobs, their families, and their lives…they lie out of pure survival. More followers meant more warriors and, well…we've lost a lot of people…"

"How many?" Sirius questioned quietly.

"Let's put it this way," Harry mumbled, "The only survivors are Severus, Remus and I. It was brutal; horrible." He took in a shaky breath, as if remembering, "Every side needs a back-up plan. Hermione came up with this one a few days before she was captured…to travel back in time to where everything went to hell, and change it. It would be an upper hand that Voldemort would not be expecting and it would be something only _we_ could do…" He began pacing again, "Severus took the basic plan for the time turner and mixed the Sands of Time into a potion that is commonly used for teleporting. It was amazing actually – but don't tell him I said that. We had our last battle and it seemed that we had no other choice…and here we are, stuck in our younger bodies in the calm before the storm, as it were."

There was an awkward silence before Harry clapped. "So…um, any questions?"

"Yeah, I have a question: You have to be bloody kidding me?" Ron exclaimed, "This is impossible. You can't be from the future – it's illegal to meddle with time anyway."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Harry replied coolly, "And besides, the Ministry has much bigger things to worry about than if a Time Turner is used illegally."

"And another thing – what's all this about Snape? You hate him remember? And he hates you. It's the way of the world. I just…" Ron sighed, "…I just can't believe it…"

Harry looked at him pleadingly. "What can I do to prove I'm telling you the truth?"

"Show him your hunting abilities." Sirius stated firmly, meeting his godson's eyes, "…In the memories you gave me, I saw your hunting forms – quite impressive actually, but that's to be expected with a charming Godfather like myself. 4th year Harry can't do anything close to that but 19-year-old Harry can." He shrugged, "I think that would be proof enough."

With a strong nod of confirmation, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, imagining his body changing as he had done so many times before. A shocked gasp told him that he had transformed, his panther form most probably as it was believed to be the most surprising of all of them. Carefully opening his eyes, he sat patiently and stared at the two people he'd trusted with their secret. They were both gaping down at him, eyes wide – obviously, even with the previous warning, it was still surprising.

Carefully and cautiously (he vaguely remembered Ron tried to attack him when he first appeared in this form all those years in the future) he circled their legs, rubbing against them like an over grown tabby cat. When Sirius hesitantly leant down and scratched him behind his ears, he couldn't help purring and leaning into the touch. His Godfather laughed in amusement.

"Amazing…" he breathed.

"That's not amazing…that's bloody brilliant." Ron corrected, grinning.

At the accepting reply, Harry transformed back into his human form, straightening up to his full height. He winced as his back cracked – it was always an odd feeling to stand on two feet after being on all fours. "So…anymore questions?"

"I do have one question to ask you. It's small, nothing of importance…but what the hell is Remus Lupin doing in a relationship with that slimy git?" Sirius demanded, sounding close to hysterics.

Ron's eyes bulged. "Huh? Lupin…and Snape?"

Harry laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. His eyes completely avoided the two across from him. "Oh yeah, Remus and Severus. I, ah, kind of forgot I put that memory in there…please don't tell Moony – he'll knock my block off; my beautiful block." He pleaded quickly.

Ron raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I can't believe it took us so long to find out you were gay…"

_Dear Moony,_

_How have you been? _

_I'm sorry it's been so long since we've spoken but things at school are, well…let's just they're getting interesting. How was full moon? I hope Moony wasn't that much of a hassle, or get into too much trouble. Next time, I'm sure I could find a way to get out of the school with Shade to visit – I hate the thought of you having to go through this by yourself._

_I'm not sure if Shade told you but, uh, there are some people that know of our special situation, as it were. I asked Shade's permission, of course. From this point onwards, Sirius Black and Ronald Weasley know what has happened. I trust them and after so long apart…I just wanted them to know._

_Long time, no see,_

_Hunter_

Remus smiled slightly, shaking his head. He should have known. Harry couldn't keep a secret this big, especially not to his closest friends. He was somewhat surprised the young man hadn't told Hermione as well but then, he supposed, he didn't lose her as a friend during this year. She always thought more logically whilst Ron seemed to let his emotions take over. Not a bad quality, per say, but one that might cause problems.

Inwardly, Remus wondered how much Hunter had told them; how much he had shown them. It was likely that the entire story was told, but he wouldn't miss out important details, like his current relationship status. He would have laughed at the thought of Sirius' reaction, if he wasn't generally terrified of what the ex-convict would say. Since they had first met, Sirius and Severus had never really gotten along (although he actually had no idea why) and, he had to admit, as a student, he hadn't been overly fond of the Slytherin either, but times had changed since then. War had changed him, a lot more than probably most people had realised, and there was only one person that had generally been there for him whenever he needed it.

And then with Vale…God, he missed her. It had been hard on all of them, despite everything. Even though all the pain and suffering they were both going through, Shade made sure that Moony was okay, more than anything. "That's all that matters," he had said. At the time, he hadn't believed him. Now, he felt guilty for brushing the man aside so readily and violently.

Relaxing into his seat and smiling at the memory, Remus stared into the blue sky and waited patiently for the Howler from his fellow Marauder.

_Dear Hunter,_

_I'm doing well. It's so strange without having you or Shade around the place to annoy me but it's getting better. Full Moon was business as usual – Moony missed you both and made sure that I knew it. Don't worry too much about next full moon. Both you and Shade have a lot of work to do and I don't want to get in the way – besides, I handled years of full moons on my own. I think I can handle a few more._

_I'm sure school has gotten hectic. The results of the Triwizard Champions were printed in the Daily Prophet this morning. You made the front page. I take it Shade has already done a run through of the rules but please cub, be careful. I know you've done this before, but look what happened last time. I don't want to have to visit you in the Infirmary this time around._

_Shade did mention the retelling of our presence and assured me you had it covered. I don't doubt that you made the right choice – they are our friends and we should trust them with this._

_Good luck, and be safe,_

_Moony_

**A/N:**** I have finally updated XD I hope you enjoyed it and I hope chapter's are going to start getting more regular, although not necessarily for this one story. **

**I put a poll up on my profile to decide who Harry should end up with. I put down the boys it's been narrowed down to and, whatever the winner, that pairings shall be used. So if you want your boy to be with the 'saviour', you better cast your vote!**


	6. Chapter 6

**To Save The Future**

**WingedHybrid**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. This story was adopted by me – the original idea came from Rainbow Stripes.**

**A/N: Hey! It's been ages since I last updated this! I'm sorry for the wait but hopefully I'll be updating at least more often! But, on the plus side, I have the following chapters figured out and some ideas for the future of this story so one will hope my muse will keep giving me the inspiration to write this story. Please read and review! :3**

* * *

Chapter 6

_So this was the start of it all…_Severus mused to himself.

They had all been prepared for it, knew what was going to happen, but still, now that it was happening…it was difficult to know how they were supposed to react. Only the three of them knew what was to come, knew who would be lost, and whose duty it now was to stop it from happening again. Not very many people could be trusted with such delicate knowledge, not yet anyway.

Leaving Dumbledore's office, he was oddly surprised at how easy it was to convince the Headmaster to keep the 14-year-old Harry in the competition. Not that there was any choice in the matter, but he would have expected some kind of fight with Barty Crouch over the final decision. He was right in his decision though – at the time, no one knew the true reasoning behind the placement of Harry into the Triwizard Tournament, and it was the safest option. Somebody had planned this and neither one person or the other could tell what would happen if someone interfered with their plan. Barty Crouch Jr. was insane, but not stupid. He would find a way, a new way that no one could change, whether they wanted to or not, to get Harry to that graveyard. No, the best thing to do would be an ambush. _Play the game; let them think they've won, like conning your opponent in a poker match…_

Entering his chambers, he didn't even glance at his surroundings and heading towards the fireplace. The rooms that he had spent so many years of his life in, now remained unused and empty – probably would gather dust if it wasn't for the cleaning spell that had lasted centuries over the private area – because he had better places to be.

Standing in the ash, Severus allowed a small smile to cross his face. _Oh, yes, much better places to be._ He threw the flew powder into the hearth and, in a loud, clear voice, called out the one place he wanted to be.

"Lupin Cottage!"

* * *

"So what other animals can you turn into then?" Ron questioned eagerly.

Harry smiled to himself. He was glad it had gone so well. After all that had happened to him, he was glad that Ron had believed him, trusted him with the delicate information of the future. He knew without a doubt that Ron would have questions – more than the ones that had been proposed in Sirius' portable home at least – although he had thought he would wait a little bit longer. They had been walking towards the Gryffindor common room in silence when he had blurted out the question. He was only too happy to answer.

"Three at the moment: a panther – as you saw; a hawk and a sea-serpent." He responded easily, "I've been working on transformations into a dragon and a wolf, but I haven't quite got the hang of it yet. Severus said he would keep teaching me when we returned to the past, but we haven't exactly had a lot of time to practise since the year began."

"Yeah, I suppose it would be strange. I mean, you two hate each other – or, at least, you did hate each other," Ron paused, "So what changed there? How did Professor Lupin and Snape ever, well, you know…"

"Hmm, that's a little more complicated to explain." Harry started slowly, "It's not really my story, so I can't give you too many details, but Severus was there for Remus at the time when we needed comfort the most. It was strange at first, I didn't really understand to be honest, but I don't really care, as long as they're happy together."

"Fair enough mate," Ron conceded. He went silent for a moment, thinking of another question. "You said a dragon and a wolf. I get the wolf – I mean, obviously you've grown close to Professor Lupin over the years – but why a dragon?"

Harry struggled to fight down the blush that was beginning to make its way up his neck from his chest. He refused to meet his friend's gaze, instead staring determinedly ahead. "I like dragons. I thought it would be cool to fly…"

Ron could easily tell he was lying, he knew his best friend that much, but it was obviously something that Harry didn't want to talk about, so he brushed that thought aside for the moment. He changed the subject purposely. "Can you tell us the future? Like will that change the world if you do?"

Harry snorted grinning. "Probably, but I've already changed a lot. What's the point in stopping now? What do you want to know?"

"What happens to me? And to my family? Oh, what about Hermione?" Ron listed off, almost greedy for answers.

"Ron…" he began unsurely.

"I've kind of guessed we died mate," Ron continued weakly, "I mean, you said it yourself. Only three people survived that last attack – and you said Hermione was captured…"

"Yeah, it was pretty bad…" Harry hummed to himself for a moment thoughtfully, "You were training to become an Auror, would have passed too if the war hadn't started and then we had other things to worry about…You get married, pretty much as soon as school ends, a lot a people did…"

Ron perked up. "Married? I get married? To who?"

Harry smiled slyly. "Now that would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it?"

"Fine…" he grumbled, "Did you marry?"

A distant looked crossed his face, almost wistful. The longing and pain was so clear in his emerald eyes that Ron instantly regretted asking the question. Yes, he wasn't to know, but it was clear – whoever this man was – that he had really loved him. He opened his mouth to quickly take back the question, but Harry began talking before he could.

"Yes, I did, one of the first actually," he spoke softly, "it was a little unorthodox really – the age difference between us made a lot of people judge and categories our relationship as something strange and uncomfortable – but neither of us cared all that much. We had people to support us, and we loved each other, what else did we need? It was great, even during the dark times, I enjoyed every second of it…but he died, and I couldn't save him."

_But I will this time, I have to, _he vowed.

* * *

Harry winced, shielding away from the bright flash of the camera. His vision cleared and the smug face of Rita Skeeter appeared in front of them. Once again, he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something he would regret. He had always despised that woman, a feeling from the very moment he had seen her that had never gone away. She was just a horrible woman, disgusting and uncaring of anyone's problems but her own. She exposes people's secrets, their fears and weaknesses, to the world and the public thank her for it because it's considered a "great service". No one cares or understands the damage she causes to each person she takes an interest to. It had only gotten worse during war times. People were hard to track in those days and Harry was almost certain she was the reason behind so much information being leaked to Voldemort. There was no evidence, of course, but then again, not many people knew of her Animagus form, neither now nor then.

Still, that didn't change the fact; he had no time for people like _her_.

"What a charismatic quartet," she commented, stepping through the smoke left behind by the flash. There was an awkward silence where no one was really sure what to say in reply. She smiled and her voice sweetened. She approached the four Triward Champions and forcibly shook each ones hand. "Hello. I'm Rita Skeeter. I write for the Daily Prophet – but of course you know that, don't you? It's you, we don't know. Hah, it's you we don't know. You're the new juicy news. What quirks lurk behind those rosy cheeks; what mysterious to the muscles mask; does courage lie beneath those curls? In short, what makes a champion tick? Me, myself and I want to know, not to mention my rapid readers."

Harry suppressed a snort of amusement. _Rabid is more like it…_

"So who feeling up to sharing?" she offered. When no one replied, just like how he remembered, the pleasant features dropped and she sucked on her tongue. "Should we start with the youngest? Lovely."

Harry was jerked roughly away from the centre of the group and dragged towards the broom cupboard within which the interview would be held. He heard her say something about hoping it was okay, but he wasn't really listening. His hands in his trouser pockets, he plodded his way down the stairs, the perfect image of a 'couldn't careless' teenager. At the bottom of the staircase, she swung onto a stall, automatically setting up her quill and notepad. Harry waited with a blank expression on the last step until she gestured him forward with much enthusiasm. She leant forward on her knees and smiled warmly, using everything in her disposal to encourage him to slip up and reveal something that she could twist into something else entirely.

He wouldn't allow it this time.

"So tell me Harry, here you sit a mere boy of twelve-"she started.

"Fourteen. I'm fourteen," he interrupted firmly.

She didn't flatter. "-about to compete against three students not only vastly more emotionally mature than your self but have mastered spells that you wouldn't have even attempted in your dizziest daydreams. Concerned?"

Harry smirked cockily. "Trust me, my 'dizziest daydreams' have never been filled with performing spells, although I do have a penchant for playing with wands…"

Rita looked surprised for a moment, although it was schooled quickly. Inwardly, he was taking great thrill in making her lose her professional image. She continued with her questioning as if he had said nothing, "But of course you're not ordinary boy of twelve, are you?"

"Fourteen," he corrected once more, narrowing his eyes.

"Your story's legend. Do you think it was the trauma of your past that made you so keen to enter such a dangerous tournament?"

"One, I didn't enter myself. Two, you'd have to be a complete idiot to want to enter a war zone," he commented.

"Of course you didn't enter Harry," she mocked, winking slyly at him. "Everyone loves a rebel Harry."

He grinned. "Oh yeah, dangerous is sexy, and getting caught is definitely a thrill."

Rite laughed and instructed her quill that the last be cut, before continuing. "Speaking of your parents, were they alive, how do you think they'll feel? Proud or concerned that your actions show at best a pathological need for attention, at worse a psychotic death wish?"

Harry leant forward on his knees, mimicking her position and smiled in an overly honeyed way. "I can't speak for my parents; I didn't exactly get the time to know them did I? And beside that, how can you talk about them when you don't even know how long it's been since they died?"

Rita sat back, blinking in shock and looking a little affronted.

Harry stood up straight, towering above her, and continued, "Thirteen years ago. I'm fourteen. And my eyes are glistening with the ghosts of my past. In fact, if anything, I've been told you can see our fucked up future in them. Why don't you print that for your fucking idiotic readers that are too dependent on the shit you publish to think about things themselves?" When Rita didn't reply, he nodded towards her. "Goodbye, Rita Skeeter. If we met again, it will be too bloody soon."

And with that, he swept from the small confines of the cupboard. He received arched eyebrows and questioning looks from his three other competitors but he ignored them, simply smiling widely and returned to his place between Cedric and Viktor. When Rita emerged from the room, ready to grab the next champion for interview, she refused to meet his eye.

Already, he was looking forward to what she would print about him.


End file.
